A service of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation.
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation December spending on services was the worst in nearly a year, retail spending fell 3 of the last 4 months, rising mortgage interest rates drove existing home sales to their lowest level since 2014, and car sales were the worst in more than a decade. Government stimulus funds and…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation According to the Oregon Office of Econoimic Analysis, 21 percent of Oregon renter households in the state were living in poverty, and 44 percent of rental households spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Fifty-four percent of renters do not have enough income left over after…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation HB 3010 limits Oregonian’s mortgage interest deduction from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2028. Under the bill, fifty percent of the estimated revenue increase due to lowering the mortgage interest deduction will be dedicated to the Oregon First-Time Home Buyer Account. The First-Time Home Buyer Account will fund…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established retirement and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. ERISA covers $7.6 Trillion in assets managed on behalf of 140 million American…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation In May, voters in Multnomah County will vote on implementing an adjustable 0.75% capital gains tax to provide free lawyers to tenants being evicted. Portland and Multnomah County already subsidize legal defense for low-income renters facing eviction. Backers needed 22,686 valid signatures to qualify the measure for the May…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation. Some things on the internet are not what they seem to be at first glance. The chart below, purporting Lucky Charms to be healthier than steak, and Frosted Mini Wheats healthier than almost evertyhthing except Kale, is a perfect example. The chart was created not to support those ridiculous…
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…
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.…
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…
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…