[CFR-Announce] Oregon Corporations Get 23% Oregon Tax Cut for 2005-06!

[Dan Meek]

Below is information from the Oregon Center for Public Policy.  I have 
not seen this fact in any newspaper or any other news media.  It 
strongly confirms that the corporations, with their umlimited political 
campaign contributions in Oregon, are comfortably in control.

    *With the controversy over the state budget and school funding, did
    you know that the corporations got yet another 23% tax cut, so that
    state funding must come even more from individuals?  Did you know
    that about half of the total tax cut will flow to only 50 large
    corporations?*

Did you also know these facts?

   1. Corporations operating in Oregon pay 71 percent less in state
      corporate income taxes as a share of the economy than they did in
      the late 1970s.

   2. *In the 1973-75 budget cycle, corporations paid 18.5 percent of
      all income taxes but that they now pay just 4.6 percent.*

   3. If corporate income taxpayers still paid the same share of income
      taxes they paid in 1973-75, state revenue for the current 2-year
      budget cycle would be $1.8 billion higher (or taxes on individuals
      could be cut by $1.8 billion).

   4. Multistate corporations enjoy the lion's share of potentially
      taxable profits collected in Oregon and hence are the primary
      beneficiaries of the declining corporate income tax.

                [all of the above info from OCPP]

In addition, a 2004 study by the by Council on State Taxation shows 
Oregon ranks last among states in business taxes per dollar of economic 
activity and per dollar of capital income.  Oregon ranks 2nd highest, 
however, in share of all state and local taxes paid by individuals.

    *But we individuals do not have the big bucks to make the unlimited
    corporate contributions to the lawmakers.
    *


  We need to ban corporate political contributions in Oregon.  Petition
  37 is now gathering signatures.  It would ban corporate political
  contributions in all races for state or local public office in Oregon.


  Please get involved!

Dan Meek
FairElections Oregon
800-939-8011
503-246-2906
www.fairelections.net
dan at fairelections.net


  Oregon Corporations Quietly Receive 23 Percent Reduction in 2005 Taxes

Oregon Center for Public Policy

(Silverton, OR) Without the Legislature taking a single vote, Oregon 
corporations finished the 2005 legislative session scoring a 23 percent 
reduction in their 2005 corporate income taxes, according to the Oregon 
Center for Public Policy. This will happen because revenue receipts in 
the 2003-05 budget period significantly exceeded official state revenue 
projections.

The tax cut, commonly referred to as the "kicker," is currently 
projected to total $62.6 million. The final calculation will be included 
in the "close of session" revenue forecast in the September economic and 
revenue forecast by the Office of Economic Analysis. Corporations will 
take the kicker tax cut as a credit against their 2005 tax liability.

"Oregonians won't be able to hold their legislators accountable to a 
vote on this tax cut because it takes action by the Legislature to stop 
the corporate kicker and the Legislature didn't have the gumption to put 
the issue to a vote," said Charles Sheketoff, executive director of the 
Oregon Center for Public Policy.

"They just sat back and let the tax cut happen, while also doling out 
other permanent tax cuts for Oregon corporations and cutting programs 
and services Oregonians use and rely upon each day," noted Sheketoff.

"The next time Oregonians hear the Oregon business community gripe about 
Oregon's inadequate investments in education and other public services, 
we should remind corporate Oregon that their greed helped cause the 
problem," said Sheketoff. He said none of the major business groups - 
the Oregon Business Council, the Oregon Business Association, and 
Associated Oregon Industries - "seriously pushed" to have the 
Legislature suspend the tax cut.

Oregon corporations are now paying less than 5 percent of Oregon's 
income taxes, down from 18 percent in the mid-1970s. The kicker tax cut 
only benefits profitable corporations, not new or struggling businesses 
more likely to need help rebounding from the recession.

According to the public policy research center, about half of the total 
tax cut will flow to only 50 or so Oregon corporations, while ninety 
percent of the total tax cut will be bestowed on fewer than four out of 
every 100 corporations. "Multistate corporations are the biggest 
winners, not the small businesses that are the backbone of Oregon's 
economy," Sheketoff said.

Sheketoff noted that many Oregonians think the Legislature should have 
invested additional funds in public services.

"Instead of investing more in the public services that Oregonians rely 
upon and benefit from every day, the Legislature actively increased 
corporate giveaways and passively allowed the corporate kicker tax cut 
to kick. Fattening the coffers of already-profitable corporations was 
apparently a higher priority for the Legislature than adequate public 
investments in children's welfare, child care, education, crime 
prevention, and health care," said Sheketoff.