Williams is a life-long taxpayer advocate who has archived the state’s largest collection of government waste. Jason heads both the Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation and its sister organization, Taxpayer Association of Oregon.

Oregon property taxes up

Oregon property taxes up Many Washington County property owners will see as much as 13% property tax increase. Some Portland homes will witness an 11% increase in their property taxes. Clackamas property owners will see an average of 3% increase. Multnomah County homeowners will see a substantial increase in property taxes as a result of…

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Health Exchanges performing poorly — Oregon, California

Nearly a month into Oregon’s Health Care Exchange and it is still not working and facing painful delays. The website’s failure is a gross disappointment despite the project’s spending over $82 million in taxpayer dollars. This is made even worse knowing the fact that Oregon was awarded the third largest federal grant to build the…

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Oregon solar industry has bleak summer

Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon Three of Oregon’s solar companies are laying of hundreds of employees as 2013 marks a terrible year for the solar industry. The solar industry has been heavily supported by taxpayer funds through tax credits and other financing operations. Salem’s Sanyo Solar announced the layoff of 52 workers, but will continue to…

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Oregon tops in Zombie Foreclosures

By Oregon Tax News With 52% of foreclosed homes in the state vacant, Oregon has the fourth highest rate of “zombie foreclosures” in the country. A “zombie foreclosure” is an unoccupied home in foreclosure, but not yet foreclosed. Half of the approximately 2300 Oregon homes in foreclosure, but not yet foreclosed, are vacant, and almost…

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Homeownership lowest in 17 years

By Oregon Tax News, Reaching the lowest point in 17 years, homeownership dropped to a seasonally adjusted 65.2 percent in the first quarter as more people chose to rent instead of purchase a home. The rate of homeownership peaked at 69.4 percent in 2004, and has followed a downward trend since the collapse of the…

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What You Need to Know About the Internet Sales Tax

By Oregon Tax News, What You Need to Know About the Internet Sales Tax This week the Senate passed the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act by a vote of 69 to 27.  Here are some important things to know about the bill. 1. Allows states to capture $11 billion in taxable income. it allows the 45…

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Senate eyes internet tax

By Oregon Tax News, A bill proposed by three prominent U.S. senators would give states broad new taxing power over online retailers located outside their boundaries. The Marketplace Fairness Act was proposed in February by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and could make shopping online more expensive and complicate…

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Oregon part of Google Settlement

By Oregon Tax News, Oregon is party to a multistate settlement with Google, Inc. for the unauthorized collection of information from unsecured wireless networks by its Street View vehicles. The agreement, signed by the attorneys general of 38 states and the District of Columbia, requires Google to educate employees on the privacy and confidentiality of…

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Fax error puts 644 Oregon tax filers at risk

Oregon Department of Revenue alert to tax filers by Fax The Oregon Department of Revenue is experiencing an interruption in fax service that has affected taxpayer communications to two of the agency’s key return processing units. Since Friday afternoon, Revenue has received 644 fax submissions to its Electronic Funds Transfer Unit (EFT) and Suspense Unit…

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Oregon ranks high in spending upon state-by-state comparrison

By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon, An analysis of U.S. Census Bureau numbers shows Oregon state & local governments ranking higher than national state average when ranked among other 50 states. Below is a chart showing how Oregon ranks among the 50 states and another on how the District of Columbia ranks. The numbers are based…

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