Oregon Tax News

Foreclosures Still Plague Oregon Housing Market Account for One in Three Home Sales
By Oregon Tax News

Foreclosures continue to flood Oregon’s housing market and accounted for one-third of all home sales this spring. At 33 percent, Oregon’s housing market is in the top 10 in terms of foreclosed homes as a percentage of all home sales. In Oregon, foreclosed homes sell for about 30 percent less on average than non-foreclosed homes. The number of foreclosed homes on the market, therefore, continues to contribute to declining home values in Oregon and elsewhere. Read more…

Could a Bailout Save the Postal Industry?
By Oregon Tax News,

A 2010 GAO report detailed that the U.S. Postal Service is on the brink of an economic meltdown. There have been serious calls to save costs by ending Saturday service and to close nearly 2,000 office. Oregon has over 40 post offices on the national target list.

The U.S. Postmaster General told federal lawmakers that the U.S. Postal Service is about to default on billions of dollars in workers’ compensation and retiree health payments and needs Congress’ help to make payroll. The U.S. Postal Office payroll obligations is above industry standard

Percent of budget to employee benefits
USPS, 80%
UPS, 61%
FedEx, 43%
- Source: Bloomberg Businessweek Read more…

By Oregon Tax News

Oregon Tax News recently analyzed the information behind three different worst city ratings which included;”America’s Shrinking Cities List” (by MSNBC), “America’s Most Miserable City List” (Forbes) and “Worst Job Seeker City List” (US & World Report). The four most common factors of being among America’s worst cities were unemployment, high crime, low education levels and a city’s exposure to the housing crisis fall-out. A more narrower data point not highlighted in this article were worst cities that were impacted by disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Read more…

By Oregon Tax News,

The United States has not seen a balanced budget since 2001, leading to increasing national debt.  Although private banks in the U.S. hold the majority of the country’s debt, over 52% according to MSNBC, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board estimate that foreign governments hold 4.4 trillion of the country’s $14 trillion debt in Treasury securities.  The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that Mainland China owns $891.6 billion of the U.S.’s debt.  Even Russia owns $106.2 billion.<!–more–>

The United States auctions off treasury securities every three months.  This length of time gives the Treasure enough time to figure out how much money it will need to pay off the old debt and cover the cost of increased spending.  Buyers have the option to make a competitive bid at the auction, which allows the buyer to ask for a specific rate, or a non-competitive bid, in which the buyer agrees to accept the average rate of other winning bids.

Although this system currently sustains the United States, many economists worry how long the United States can survive on a so-called “IOU” system.

Economy, Aging and Sex Leads to Declining Workforce
As the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age, USA TODAY reports that the working population fell to its lowest level last year since women entered the workforce nearly 30 years ago. In 2010, only 45.4% of Americans had jobs. This rate is down from 49.3% in 2000. Economists blame the poor economy and aging workforce. Read more…

Capital gains tax
Oregon has one of the highest capital gains taxes in the nation. There are a few bills in the 2011 Legislature that would reduce these taxes. The issue is cut capital gains taxes is shared by many sides in the State capitol. Governor Kitzhaber has proposed cutting $25 million from capital gains taxes. House Republican Leader Kevin Cameron, himself a small businessman, has proposed a 50% reduction. Read more…

100 Ways to Balance the State Budget without new taxes!

In light of Oregon facing a budget crisis, the Taxpayer Foundation has issued a master list of budget balancing ideas that do not require raising taxes. These ideas have been collected from Oregon lawmakers, think tank groups, taxpayer organizations, unions, policy analysts, Democrats, Republicans and even ideas utilized in states across the nation. To help lead the reader to more information, there are sources and representatives featured at the end of each idea. We hope this is a starting point to a discussion on solutions to Oregon’s budget problems. Read more…

Is tech a new bubble to burst?  Should the Fed care?
By Oregon Tax News,

As technology expands, companies find themselves with increased market values.  The emergence of social media (more than 500 million accounts on Facebook alone), combined with mobile phone use (4.5 billion), is dramatically changing technology. Currently, Facebook is valued at $75 billion, making the social-media giant more valuable than Disney.  In addition, John Swartz and Matt Krantz reported in USA Today that Groupon, an online coupon site recently turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google, according to published reports.Americans’ fascination with technology is not a new fad. Although Tech and Internet stocks crashed in the dot-com bust of 2000, tech companies are reviving the get-rich-quick feelings toward tech stocks. The expansion of technology today is similar to the late 1990s in Silicon Valley.  Netscape Communications’ stock prices rose to $75 a share in its first day of trading in August 1995.  Unfortunately, tech and internet stocks crashed.  Stockholders faced the fall of the Nasdaq index from more than 5000 in March 2000 to 1100 in late 2000 followed by a terrible recession. Read more…

States Consider Online Gambling to Raise Revenue
By Oregon Tax News

As states struggle to balance their budgets, they constantly search for new ways to increase revenue and decrease their deficits. Although there is a federal ban on Internet gambling, several states, led by New Jersey, battle to legalize online gambling by initiating state laws that could circumvent a federal ban on Internet gambling.
New Jersey is the first state to authorize online gambling. Although Republican Governor Chris Christie vetoed the bill, gambling experts believe states’ efforts to legalize online gambling for their own residents, known as intrastate gambling, are increasing. Iowa lawmakers followed New Jersey and introduced a bill to legalize online poker, and California and Florida are considering similar bills. Read more…

Oregonians flock to Washington to avoid tax bite
By Oregon Tax News,

Despite the decline in home sales, Clark County attracted 22 percent more out-of-town residents in 2010 than in 2009. Real estate experts believe the absence of income tax and low home prices contributed to the influx of new residents. Clark County boasts some of the lowest home prices in the Portland-Vancouver metro area. Read more…