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 #3 poorest state for real after-tax income

By Bob Clark, Economist Guest submission for Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation,   The above chart is of per person real after-tax income by selected state (after-tax income adjusted by the state’s relative cost of living). It is compiled from U.S Bureau of Economics, a department of the Federal government, data (released on December 14,…

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Portland/Oregon pay more in utilities

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Doxo reports that Portland makes the top 12 utility cost cities. This now puts utility costs among the nation’s highest along with taxes, fees, gas prices, cost of living and housing costs. The U.S. average bill is $351.  Oregon utility bills exceeded the U.S. national average at $363 per…

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Veronica Guerin film at 20: Lessons for Oregon

By Jason Williams Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Veronica Guerin is a superb 2003 true-life story featuring Kate Blanchett as she plays the Irish journalist who took on the drug lords and was murdered for it. In the 1990’s, drugs and crime were experiencing a surge in Ireland. Newspapers were reluctant to report on it.…

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50 out of 382,000 Oregon addicts got help with M110

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Oregon voters who approved Measure 10 decriminalizing drugs thought addicts who received a $100 ticket would call a hotline to have the fee waived—and receive treatment needed to beat their addiction. But that didn’t happen. Between implementation of the law in February 2021 and September 2023, law enforcement officers…

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Portland real estate rank

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation The real estate potential of the Portland metro area continues to linger in the bottom half of a list of 80 American cities surveyed and reviewed in the Urban Land Institute’s 2024 Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, according to the Portland Business Journal. The report ranks Portland at…

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Man helps homeless teen, gets killed

  By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, People think that all the homeless need is a little helping hand. When drugs are involved it can make doing charity work outright dangerous. An elderly Seaside man who tried to help a homeless teenager wound up beaten with a chain and padlock, stabbed in the lung, and…

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4 signs of a bleak Christmas

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Here are some signs that the 2023 Christmas economic season may be more tenuous than predicted. #1. Retail sales slows: Retail sales have dipped in the past month as noted by Advisor Perspectives.   #2. Retail spending: Spending by the retail industry is down from the last year as noted by the Wall…

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4,550 Ukrainians settle in Oregon. Thankful to be alive.

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation Since Russia invaded their homeland in February 2022, nearly 6 million Ukrainians have fled the carnage, seeking asylum in other European nations and throughout the world. About 4,550 have settled in Oregon, struggling to survive with little money and few possessions. More assistance may be coming their way, though,…

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Bezos jumps to Florida (saves $32B in one tax alone)

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation Amazon CEO and the world’s 3rd richest person, has announced he is leaving the State of Washington and moving to Florida. The NY Post notes, “If Bezos were to keep Seattle as his primary residence and maintain his current net worth of roughly $162 billion, it would mean he’d have to…

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Eugene eyes banning new gas stations

Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation Finding a place to pump gas in Eugene may be harder in the future if the Eugene City Council sides with activists and bans construction of new stations as a means to curb the use of fossil fuels, according to OPB. The city has 42 gas stations today, with two more…

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