Economic Justice Action Group

The anti-tax zealots in Oregon have been successful in referring the two tax fairness bills passed by the Oregon legislature to the voters.  One bill increased the corporate minimum tax from $10 to $150 with a sliding scale above that.  The other bill increased the personel income tax to be imposed on the wealthiest of the wealthy. 
 
These two measure would enact a measure of tax fairness in Oregon.  The history of tax reform in Oregon in the past has usually resulted in lower taxes on the rich with the poor and middle classes paying more.  Yet the amount of income going to those same people has climbed during the same time.
 
A recent report from the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP) titled Labor Day Woes and Wishes, Reviewing recession’s impact on workers and policies for greater shared prosperity documents the extent to which this is true.  To quote the report:
 

In 2007, the average adjusted gross income of the wealthiest 1 percent of Oregon households surpassed the $1 million mark. That meant that these wealthiest households had tripled their inflation-adjusted income compared to 1979.  By contrast, the typical, or median, Oregon household income remained at around $31,000, about what it was in 1979 in inflation-adjusted dollars. 
 
The income gains of the top one-tenth of 1 percent – a select group of about 1,600 households- were even more impressive. Between 1980 and 2007, this group’s average income grew to $3.2 million.  In 2007 alone, the top one-tenth of 1 percent reported a total of $5.2 billion in income.  that equals the total income reported by the lowest-earning 506,000 households in the state in 2007, about 30 percent of Oregon taxpayers.
 
Not Surprisingly, income has become increasingly concentrated in  the hands of the richest Oregonians, particularly the wealthiest 1 percent.  In 1980, 7 percent of all income in Oregon went to the richest 1 percent of households. By 2007, on the eve of the recession, the top 1 percent collected 18 percent of all income.

 
Looking at this same question nationally, according to figures from the Congressional Budget Office, in 1980 the top 1% received 7.5% of after-tax income.  By 2006, that percentage had increased to 16.3.  Looking at a slightly different grouping, we see that the top 20% received 42.8% of after tax income in 1980 but increased that percentage to 52.1% by 2006.
 
So I think the wealthy can pay a little more.  It is only fair.
 
And naturally it almost goes without saying that corporations have been paying a lower percent of state revenues for the past several decades.
And it continues to decrease.   According to the OCPP, corporations paid 6.3 percent in income tax revenue in the 2007-09 budget cycle that ended in June, but nowhere near the 18 percent share that corporations paid in the 1973-75 biennium. 
 
So I think that corporations can afford to pay a bit more in terms of an increase in the corporate minimum tax.
 
Please read the following email alert from our friends at Tax Fairness Oregon and pledge to Vote NO on the two tax referral measures when you vote. This will save you from receiving mailings from the Yes campaign (yes, you will want to vote Yes to continue funding for state services and for schools) and save the campaign money. 
 
Also, consider volunteering for the Yes campaign. Go to www.defendoregon.org to connect up with the campaign.

David e. Delk, Alliance for Democracy – Portland Chapter 503 232 5495 www.afd-pdx.org 

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Filed under: Taxes