Oregon Raises Taxes for Corporations and the Wealthy

Comments

there's nothing wrong with people who are successful having to support the bastard offspring of slacker potheads like yourself via taxes

great idea

Swearengen on January 27, 2010 at 8:28 AM

There are the "successful" and the freeloaders, never anybody in between. Makes perfect sense.

The CHZA on January 27, 2010 at 8:30 AM

Yeah, raise taxes on corporations so they take their jobs out-of-state. Lefties never think of the consequences.

raindrop on January 27, 2010 at 8:35 AM

yeah, dumb lefties, there are NO corporations and NO jobs in NY CAl. Canada France Germany UK Austria Japan Australia etc. they are economic wastelands like USSR and Cuba. Stupid uninformed lefties! Dn't they realize ALL The corporations have moved all the jobs to Somalia where there is no government at all, or to the upper Amazon Basin where there are no taxes?

Don't they realize that all the states with income taxes are the poorest ones in the USA? Damn they're so stupid and uninformed.

on January 27, 2010 at 8:53 AM

Mr. Holden, seriously put down the bong. Having Tim Eyman's name on anything useful, whether it is a marijuana legalization initiative or an initiative for an economic recovery scheme is a fool proof way to make sure it does not pass. Furthermore, giving this guy money and encouraging him is even worse.

Reg on January 27, 2010 at 8:55 AM

@3 Where have you been? Corporations are not only sending jobs out of state but out of the country. Taxes aren't going to make a difference when they can pay someone a 1/3 of what they would have to pay an American worker. Don't fool yourself. It's not about the taxes, it about exploiting cheap labor. The taxes are only an excuse to continue to screw over the American worker.

on January 27, 2010 at 8:57 AM

It would be even more gratifying to see that the public understands the importance of preserving services to the most needy and providing education to the next generation and demonstrates that understanding and committment by taxing THEMSELVES to pay for it—

on January 27, 2010 at 9:12 AM

This is great news!
We'll be looking for those new Nike jobs in a few years...

on January 27, 2010 at 9:13 AM

It is so enlightening when slacker potheads write about business and the economy.

on January 27, 2010 at 9:15 AM

We should do this today.

All corporate tax subsidies and exemptions should be expired without a line item vote of the citizens and all individuals and persons, including corporations, should be subject to an income tax with a basic $500,000 exemption (and no others).

Our WA Constitution allows our House and Senate to pass such a 1 percent flat tax today.

Now.

This minute.

Will in Seattle on January 27, 2010 at 9:20 AM

Raising the corporate tax rate doesn't hurt businesses, they just make sure to pay out all extra profits as employee bonuses. Write it off as a payroll expense, no problem.

Thankfully they remembered to raise the taxes on the guys getting the giant bonuses, nice.

Westlake, son! on January 27, 2010 at 9:27 AM

At first I thought that the word "corporations" was misspelled in the headline (which would be churlish to point out) but now I'm wondering if the spelling was deliberate. Given the fact that corporations are practically people now, corporatons - like automatons - now seems appropriate. I can't wait to shake a sucker-covered limb of the Monsanto corporaton and congratulate it on a job well done.

Ahnon on January 27, 2010 at 9:34 AM

One thing to keep in mind when applying what happened here in Oregon to Washington, is that Oregon had one of the lowest overall tax burdens on businesses in the country (I think we were 48th, and then with 67 are now 46th). We also have a relatively low overall tax burden on individuals (can't remember the ranking off the top of my head).

Not that that stopped the "no on 66/67" people from claiming that every business was going to leave the state, small businesses were going to have to close (over a $140 increase in taxes, that only a very small number of them - those organized as C-Corps - would have to pay), etc. But, still, I think our low overall tax levels helped to make the argument, and I'm not sure where Washington stands in that respect.

Julie in Eugene on January 27, 2010 at 9:37 AM

The problem with bills/initiatives that impose new, steep taxes on the uber-rich in a state by state, ad hoc manner is that these are the folks can relocate the easiest.

A number of years ago, the owner of Food Services of America got his underwear in a bunch over Washington's estate tax system. He pulled the company's headquarters out of West Seattle and moved to Arizona.

I am not saying that these people don't deserve to shoulder a heavier burden. You just have to be aware of the unintended consequences careful that you don't shoot yourself in the foot.

on January 27, 2010 at 9:41 AM

I think it very unlikely that there will be some sudden mass migration of businesses and the wealthy from Oregon now that these have passed. It's more likely that they will complain loudly and leave it at that. Business always complains whenever they are asked to pay their fair share as corporate citizens. The wealthy can live wherever they want and if there was something that drew them to Oregon that "something" is still probably there.

I'm not exactly poor myself and I live where I do because I like it here. The tax structure never even entered my mind when I moved here.

bobbelieu on January 27, 2010 at 10:08 AM

15
that's what Detroit thought

on January 27, 2010 at 10:36 AM

tim won't do it - he has PRINCIPLES.

yes, that was irony.

Max Solomon on January 27, 2010 at 10:37 AM

@15 - don't be surprised if the housing market in Vancouver WA booms over the next few months. That should help our revenues too, since we have taxes on property transactions.

Will in Seattle on January 27, 2010 at 11:20 AM

If corporations are allowed to continually make profits while paying people the least possible, then dumping their waste in the most convenient fashion possible, then they will not be upholding their BASIC RESPONSIBILITIES. If you think corporations have no responsibilities beyond their own goals, then you haven't thought through that very clearly.

Corporate power needs to be subsumed under the goals of the greater good. If they aren't we will continue to see topsoil loss, clear-cuts, oil spills, Pacific Garbage Patches, and plastic BPA-type toxins in everyone's body.

Corporations care about one thing: Their Own (immediate) Profit.
Humans care about many things, but most importantly: The Common Good, and the Future.
These two things aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but they often seem to run that way with a greed-based "market" system, and postive-interest currency.

Either we control them, or they control us. I say we keep working for the former.

Merely taxing them to an appropriate standard isn't enough. But its a start.

on January 27, 2010 at 11:23 AM

@16 - What's wrong with Detroit couldn't possibly have something to do with the fact there hasn't been a decdent quality American car since the '70's, now could it?

Tim Eyeman should be shot, not bought.

on January 27, 2010 at 11:28 AM

Detroit was a much more "complicated" issue and doesn't really apply here. Detroit just got too complacent and thought they had some divine place at the top of the corporate food chain in the US.

bobbelieu on January 27, 2010 at 11:35 AM

@14,

I wonder how much money he and his company have lost in the real estate debacle down there. No one in their right mind wants to live in Arizona.

There's a common thread among states with low taxes: they're poor and they're shitholes. Let the few petulant rich folks in Oregon move to Alabama if they're that butthurt. Most will stay put.

keshmeshi on January 27, 2010 at 11:36 AM

@22

DingDingDing! We have a winnah, folks!

bobbelieu on January 27, 2010 at 12:59 PM

As Progressive States Network notes "progressive tax increases are a far better alternative to massive budget cuts. The latter can cause extensive damage to the economy by reducing consumer spending, exacerbating job losses, and hurting working families who rely on public services. Additionally, progressive tax reform does not have the detrimental economic impact that opponents often cite. In fact, several states that raised taxes on the wealthy experienced higher economic growth than other states and did not see an out-migration of wealthy residents. Just in 2009, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin instituted either a permanent or temporary reform of personal income taxes. Over 10 states considered or enacted business tax increases to help deal with budget deficits last year as well."

see http://www.progressivestates.org/node/24… for more information

Steve Zemke on January 27, 2010 at 5:50 PM

The idiocy of thinking that raising taxes on business is separate or different from raising taxes on the individual astounds me. Businesses do not and never have paid taxes to any government entity. Businesses collect taxes from their customers and pass them on to the government. This is a stealth or hidden tax on the individual income earner. Wake up and smell the bull squeeze you’re shoveling. In addition to that, progressive taxes are a product of Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto. You would do well to do a little more reading and a lot less spouting off in both verbal and written form.

Learn of the FairTax at www.fairtax.org and from "The FairTax Book" and "FairTax: The Truth" both by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder.

Bamboo Court Judge on February 7, 2010 at 2:14 AM

Oregon Raises Taxes for Corporations and the Wealthy

Comments

Please wait...

Add a comment

Preview

Editors' Picks

More Than Half of Central Cinema's Staff Have Walked Out on the Job

Seattle Sticker Patrol: Free Housing 4 All (Or Else)

Live Review: Mitski at The Moore

Forced Out: The New Girl

Seattle Is the Anti-Fashion Capital of the World

My Whole Life I've Been Asked If I'm a Girl or a Boy

Support The Stranger

Comments

Please wait...

Add a comment

Preview

Editors' Picks

Just Can't Get Enough?

Sign up for our newsletter for news recaps, updates, and more!