by Dan Lucas
Oregon’s controversial tax increases, Measures 66 & 67, are in the news again. The Legislature will begin meeting next week and there are a number of efforts underway to mitigate the damage done by the tax increases, or even to repeal them altogether [2]. Public employee unions and their allies are working to maintain the deceptions that got Oregonians to vote for the taxes in the first place, including a recent opinion piece in the Oregonian.
More and more Oregonians seem to be getting that the tax increases are driving businesses out of Oregon [3], but there are still some people who think it was just about “$10”.
Measure 67 wasn’t just about raising the minimum tax on corporations from $10 to $150.
If the Measure 67 tax increase had truly been only from $10 to $150, it would have only raised $27 million, but M67 was designed to raise $262 million. Where would the other $235 million come from?
The answer is that M67 brought in SIX new taxes and fees totaling $262 million. One of the SIX new taxes and fees is costing businesses up to $100,000 a year, even if they don’t make a profit; even if they lose money. The taxes are so big & complex that the Department of Revenue had to add more than 7 new employees just to collect them.
Businesses were already paying their fair share & they pay a LOT more taxes & fees than just Oregon income tax – including a third of the state taxes and half of local taxes (mainly property taxes).
Oregon’s December unemployment rate was 10.6% [5]. Oregon has now had two full years of unemployment over 10%. We need to start valuing Oregon’s employers – they are the ones who can start creating jobs and help the many Oregonians who are looking for work.
Full analysis of Measure66 and -Measure 67 from December 2009 [6]