A service of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation.
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…
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…
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…
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…