A service of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation.
Oregon hospitals just got hit with a $320 million revenue tax last year with House Bill 2161 (also known as Measure 101). Now Oregon lawmakers are coming back to tax them again by stripping away their charitable property tax benefits. It’s been a long-standing policy that hospital and healthcare clinics that provide charity care can…
America’s uninsured rate held essentially steady from 2016 to 2017, according to recently released U.S. Census Bureau figures. Oregon, however, one of the few states to see a significant uptick in the uninsured rate.
Comparing Oregon to other states helps us understand and communicate how prosperous the State of Oregon government actually is. We also included regulations as they are a different form of taxation because government gets to achieve a goal for free but at a significant expense to a small business or a taxpayer family budget.
The Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed connecting state’s pension problems with home values. While the article doesn’t mention Oregon, our PERS crisis and housing affordability problems make the article especially relevant.
By Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation, Many Oregon businesses and residents feel like state government meddles too much in their everyday lives. They also feel like all this meddling does not do much to make their day-to-day lives much better. New research shows they may be correct. Oregon has the sixth highest number of regulatory…
Oregon politicians broke the law in setting convicted criminals free In 2017, the Governor and the Legislature approved House Bill 3078 which reduced prison time 20% to 30% for Identity Thieves, Auto theft and Property crimes. Politicians blatantly broke the law by releasing criminals early in violation of the Oregon Constitution. Voters put minimum sentencing…
The Oregon Transportation Commission discussed (see Oregonian article, Portland Tribune article) the feasibility of tolling the highways of Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 with the projections of raising $300 million in additional tax revenue. The Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation predicting this debate conducted an extensive mail survey of its supporters last month. Over 400…
In a large statewide straw poll of 400 Oregon taxpayers, Oregonians were asked to identify the issues they were most concerned about going in to the 2018 elections. With a potentially competitive Governor’s race and control of the Legislature at stake, voters expressed deep concern about the fiscal management of the State.
By Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation, Oregon’s income growth is lagging the nation and cannot keep pace with inflation. According to data released by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis last month, U.S. income growth per person grew by 2.4 percent. In contrast, personal income per person in Oregon increased by only 1.9 percent. To…
IRS audits at 15 year low. By Taxpayer Foundation of Oregon, For the sixth straight year IRS tax audits have been declining and have set a new 15 low in 2017 according to the Wall Street Journal. The year, 2010 was their peak, and since then they have lost a third of their enforcement staff.…