Oregon Tax News

Taxpayers foot the bill for environmental lawsuits

The federal government spends about the same amount of money funding environmental lawyers as it does to protect endangered species according to an investigation conducted by a Wyoming lawyer who defends farmers and ranchers involved in environmental lawsuits.

According to the Capital Press, Karen Budd-Falen was curious how much money the federal government paid the lawyers who initiated cases against her clients and uncovered more than $4.7 billion in taxpayer money that the government paid to environmental law firms between 2003 and 2007.  That represents an average of $940 million a year, compared to $922 million spent directly on the 986 endangered and threatened species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s annual report. (more…)

 Oregonians Face Scores of New Taxes
By Oregon Tax News

– Often overlooked, smaller tax increases will be facing thousands of Oregon homeowners, in addition to possible new taxes in Multnomah County, Hood River and Ashland. 

Recent local proposals include an extension of the Ashland meals tax, along with increased driver registration fees and higher property taxes in Multnomah County.   Some local cities, like Hood River, will be wrestling with a local gas tax increase. These smaller taxes have lost attention in light of the much larger $733 million Oregon tax referendum measures approaching the January ballot. (more…)

Oregon Faces Paycheck Decline
By Oregon Tax News

Oregon is near bottom in wage growth and it could get worse. According the United States Census Bureau, Oregon is currently ranked eighth in lowest pay check growth across the country.

The rise of unemployment in Oregon gives employers the opportunity to take advantage of the abundance of labor and lower wages.  Goldman Sachs’s chief United States economist, Jan Hatzius, predicts that average hourly earnings will fall about half a percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 through the fourth quarter of 2010.  Hatzius says his prediction accounts for workers’ strong aversion to wage cuts.  Without that adjustment, the projection would be negative two percent.
(more…)

By Oregon Tax News,

States across the nation are cutting taxes to boost stagnant economies.  Texas, Arizona, and Maine are all taking steps to lower taxes.  A recent study by former U.S. Treasury economist Robert Carroll shows that states with lower corporate tax rates have higher wage gains and more productivity over time. (more…)

Business bankruptcies climb, Oregon third on undesirable list
By Oregon Tax News

In statistics compiled by AACER (Automated Access to Court Electronic Records) Oregon ranked third in the nation in percentage increase for business bankruptcies between the first and second quarters of 2008.
 
Oregon had 214 business bankruptcies in the first quarter growing to 375 in the second quarter, a 75 percent increase.  Delaware and Montana topped the list in percentage increase at 103 percent and 97 percent respectively.

Nationwide commercial filings for the first half of 2008 are up 45 percent as compared to the previous year.  In the first quarter of 2006 there were 5,811 filings and by the second quarter of 2008, filings were up to 15,471.  (more…)

Use The Health Care You Need, We Can Make More
John in Oregon

When we have a limited budget for medical care, who gets that care? For Statists only so much medical care exists in the world. Your gain is my loss.  Older people spend a lot more on doctors than younger people. Should the elderly be prevented from spending their money on staying healthy?

If you spend your money on health care, does that subtract from the medical care of a younger person?  President Obama’s statements and the Democrat health care plan are based on the belief that it does. (more…)

Oregon businesses that do not provide health insurance for its workers might face up to a 10-percent payroll tax increase.  Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is working on a bill to finance ObamaCare.  Under Speaker Pelosi’s plan, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, firms with employee payrolls above $250,000, and without a company health plan, would pay a tax starting at 2% of wages per employee. That rate would quickly rise to 8% on firms with a total payroll of $400,000 or more.  The House bill will require firms to pay at least 72.5% of health-insurance premiums for individual workers and 65% for families in order to avoid the tax.

So how would this affect your business? According to a 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation survey, three in five small businesses fail to meet the “Pelosi test” and would be required to pay the tax. Sageworks, Inc., a financial consulting firm, calculated that companies with a total payroll between $750,000 and $1 million a year would on average lose one-third of their net profits. (more…)

 Oregon Tax News,

 In the waning days of the 2009 Oregon Legislative session the Legislature attempted to address the state’s increasing water demand by passing House Bill 3369, titled “The 2009 Water Investment Act.” The bill directs the Water Resources Department to develop a state-wide, integrated water resources strategy. The state-wide strategy is intended to help Oregon meet its future water needs in terms of water quantity, water quality, and ecosystem needs.

 The Water Resources Department will manage the project team in consultation with the Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Fish and Wildlife. It also places additional requirements on the Department’s loan fund for the construction of water development projects. It establishes a new grant fund for the construction of water development projects and specifies requirements for the Umatilla Basin Aquifer Recovery Project to use the grant fund. The Umatilla Basin Aquifer Recovery Project is a test in using below ground water storage. (more…)

Oregon Tax News
6/15/2009

Pacific Ethanol’s subsidiary that operates the 40 million gallon Boardman ethanol plant was one of five subsidiaries that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently.  Company officials indicated that the plant would continue to operate.  The Boardman plant is the only one of Pacific Ethanol’s four corn ethanol plants still operating. Both of Oregon’s large ethanol plants are seeking bankruptcy protection from creditors.  Cascade Grain’s 100 million gallon plant in Clatskanie operated briefly in 2008 then filed for Chapter 11 protection in January.

Falling gas prices, increased corn prices along with expansion of ethanol capacity have curtailed the enthusiasm for ethanol not only in Oregon but across the nation.
(more…)

John in Oregon,

Humorist P.J. O’Rourke’s latest effort in the Wall Street Journal satirizes that “The fate of Detroit isn’t a matter of economics. It’s a tragic romance, whose magic was killed by bureaucrats, bad taste and busybodies.”

With a razor sharp keyboard O’Rourke drills down to the heart of the problem saying;

“We became sick and tired of our cars and even angry at them. Pointy-headed busybodies of the environmentalist, new urbanist, utopian communitarian ilk blamed the victim. They claimed the car had forced us to live in widely scattered settlements in the great wasteland of big-box stores and the Olive Garden.” (more…)