A service of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation.
International Taxation: In an effort to pay for its increased spending the Obama Administration is going after corporate overseas earnings. This could mean diminished competitiveness for U.S. companies operating overseas. Companies like Intel and Nike would suffer under new rules proposed by the Administration. “The bottom line is they have proposed a tax increase of…
At a time when ticket sales and attendance at sporting venues across the country seem to be plunging, the city of Portland is relying on its own counter projections of increased attendance and ticket sales in order to finance its new baseball stadium. As you may recall, the Portland City Council recently voted 3-2 to…
By Richard Leonetti, The planning and costs for the Portland-Vancouver seem to be way off the charts. Why should it take so long and cost so much? The latest version is to replace two bridges now in place of about 3,150 ft in length. The new one will include 3 lanes each way but have available six…
The Oregon Education Association letter to the editor (link) is another attack against the successful Oregon Connections Academy (ORCA) virtual charter school. This campaign of misinformation will do serious harm to students and to one of Oregon’s successful schools. The letter actually attempts to cast the public charter school in the same light as bailout money…
By Richard Leonetti, The stimulus package being discussed, now, I believe is too much. Spending beyond just the “safety net” (unemployment, health payments) is not going to be cost effective. Great politics but lousy economics. Tax rebates will be saved, not spent, just as they were with the earlier stimulus. No one will hire for…
By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon 12-15-08 Only 8 years after our last big financial boom ended in a bust we have an even bigger bust in the housing and debt markets that has brought us to the edge an entire collapse of the financial system. Millions have lost houses, jobs and Retirement savings and…
Oregon’s Big Land Use Swindle By Margaret Goodwin The Oregon Land Use Act required every city and county in Oregon to implement a Comprehensive Plan, and created a taxpayer-funded bureaucracy, the Land Conservation and Development Commission, to impose mandatory statewide standards with which all Comprehensive Plans must comply. One of their goals was to prevent…
By Richard Leonetti, If you got the impression from headlines that spending by the State of Oregon had to fall by almost $1 billion in the next two years you would be wrong. What the revenue office really said was that revenue was expected to fall by $946 million from earlier projections but the new…
Global Economic Lessons for Oregon By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon, 10/08 “In the decade before 2005, American consumers were the growth engine for the world economy, accounting for more than half of global consumer spending. The balance of power is now shifting.” – Dave Have, Wall Street Journal Introduction The world is changing economically…
By Richard Leonetti, Secretary Bradbury wrote an op-ed piece saying we should not drill for oil. His arguments were riddled with contradictions and some speculation. He asserts that expanded drilling will increase gasoline demand. Actually increased drilling has no affect on demand but will increase domestic supply or keep it from falling as it is…