Lawmakers Warn of High Taxes on National Tax Freedom Day

State Senators, Representatives & Taxpayer Association call public attention to taxes on Tax Freedom Day (4/30) before wall of 1,000 signatures.

– Tax Freedom Day: TFD is April 30th. Two days later than 2006.
– Oregon Spending: Oregon ranks among top spending states per-capita
– CONGRESS: Budget would cost Oregonians $2,571.90 more in taxes
– STATE: Kulongoski pushing for over a half-billion in new taxes
– LOCAL: Local May ballot measures have $25 million tax price tag.

Today is Tax Freedom Day
TIGARD – April 30th, the day where Americans finally finishing earning enough income to pay off their taxes as calculated by the Tax Foundation using federal budget numbers (Taxfoundation.org). Tax Freedom Day is two days later than in 2006. Taxpayers will work longer to pay for government than they will for food, clothing, and housing combined. Another measure of our tax-and-spend problem is how Oregon ranks on state spending. Oregon ranks as the 13th highest spending state per-capita in the nation (according to Governing Magazine Sourcebook 2006 using US Census Bureau numbers)

The Chairs of the Taxpayer Caucuses in the Oregon Legislature along with the Taxpayer Association of Oregon (TAO) are holding a news conference on Tax Freedom Day, Monday April 30th in the Capitol Press Room in Salem. State Senator Gary George (R-McMinnville), Chair of the Senate Taxpayer Caucus, and State Representative Linda Flores (R-Clackamas), Chair of the House Taxpayer Caucus will be joined by Jason Williams, State Director of the Taxpayer Association. These lawmakers and the Taxpayer stand before a wall of 1,000 signatures asking for our political leaders to stop Kulongoski’s 567 million in new tax increases.

Senator George commented, “we are not only witnessing a flood of tax increase bills, we are seeing bills to make it easier for future tax increases to pass, such as repealing the double majority property tax voting requirements.”

Representative Flores explained, “not only are high taxes a problem in Oregon, but there are also hundreds of fees and other charges piled on. We can be better stewards of the taxpayer dollars and we need to hold our government leaders accountable for their actions.”

Tax threat from Federal Government
Oregon taxpayer will pay $2,571.90 more in taxes under one Congressional budget proposal according to the Americans for Tax Reform. Much of the tax increases will come by not renewing the Bush tax cuts.

Tax threat from state government:
There is still millions of dollars in new tax increases being considered in the Legislature including an auto insurance tax, higher DEQ fees, higher vehicle title fees, increasing the corporate minimum, higher tobacco taxes, doubling real estate form fees, construction excise taxes, home impact fees and even a sales tax which would bring in a billion dollars in new taxes (despite offsetting tax cuts in plan).

Tax threat from local government:
Two local tax measures with far-reaching ramifications are the Lane County Income tax (Measure 20-129) and the Yachats restaurant sales tax (Measure 21-115). Here is a partial list of other tax measures facing voters; West Linn public safety levy (Measure 3-267), Forest Grove public safety levy (Measure 34-142), Jackson County library levy (Measure 15-75), Josephine County public safety levy (Measure 17-19), Deschutes County 991 property tax levy (Measure 9-52), La-Pine Fire levy (Measure 9-53), and the North Douglas Fire Levy (Measure 10-73). All these taxes would add nearly $30 million to Oregon’s tax burden.

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Taxpayer Association of Oregon (503) 603-9009