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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2016)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Tuesday, March 22, 2016 Economist: Gross receipts plan ‘sales tax on steroids’ Economists refer to this phenomenon as pyramiding and it is one of the reasons some business people at Potiowsky’s talk on Thursday are worried about the corporate tax initiative. “It’s very easy to get a 10, 12, even higher percentage added onto the cost of building something because of the way this thing is set up,” said Neil O’Connor, director of labor relations and a senior project manager at Western Parti- tions, Inc. in Tigard. O’Connor said the company, a drywall and interior ¿nishes contractor, employees roughly 500 people in Oregon and “virtually all our ¿eld employees are union members.” Potiowsky has unique insight into how Our Oregon’s proposed tax initiative could affect the state’s economy, because he worked on an analysis of the potential economic impact of the measure. Our Oregon contracted with Portland State University’s Northwest Economic Research Center, of which Potio- wsky is the director, to conduct the analysis, The Portland Business Journal reported last year. Ben Unger, the executive By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — The type of corpo- rate tax proposed for a November ballot initiative by the union-backed group Our Oregon would be “like a sales tax on steroids,” former state economist Tom Potiowsky said during a presentation this week. Potiowsky made the comment in response to an audience member’s question about the tax initiative, during an economic presentation at a construction industry nonpro¿t in Tigard Thursday. The type of tax in question, known as a gross receipts tax, is levied on the company selling goods or services. Our Oregon’s initiative would tax certain corporations 2.5 percent on their annual Oregon sales above $25 million. “In my attempt to be colorful in explaining a gross receipts tax, I said that it was like a sales tax on steroids,” Potiowsky wrote in an email on Friday. “That is, all transactions (through the supply chain) are assessed the tax, not just the ¿nal transaction (sale) to the customer.” director of Our Oregon and the initiative’s chief petitioner, has so far declined to provide the ¿ndings of the economic analysis. “I’m not going to tell you what our economic analysis found,” Unger said in January. “I don’t think that is all that relevant.” Unger did not respond to a request for comment Friday regarding whether Our Oregon would release the ¿ndings of the analysis, and a spokeswoman for the ballot measure campaign declined to comment. State Sen. Mark Hass, D-Bea- verton, has been trying for months to get labor unions, business inter- ests and elected of¿cials to nego- tiate an alternative to Our Oregon’s initiative. Hass said he would like to see Potiowsky’s ¿ndings on how Our Oregon’s proposal could affect the state’s economy. “He’s very good,” Hass said of Potiowsky. “I’d love to see his work on this.” State economists in the Legisla- tive Revenue Of¿ce are conducting a similar economic impact analysis for the corporate tax measure, but the Legislature kept them busy during the 35-day session that ended earlier this month and they have yet to complete the work. The state economists might not be ready to present their ¿ndings until interim legislative meetings in May, but Hass and other lawmakers are lobbying for them to ¿nish the work sooner. “I’m trying to be respectful of their time,” Hass said. “But they know there’s some pressure to get this out sooner rather than later.” O’Connor, at Western Partitions, Inc., said it could be dif¿cult for construction companies to pass the cost of the corporate tax on to customers. “We’re already struggling, dealing with, dealing with non-union competition,” O’Connor said, and many Western Partitions, Inc.’s competitors could avoid the tax simply because they have different corporate structures. “So they all of a sudden gain a 2.5 percent advantage on us again,” O’Connor said. Since the company often bids on projects a couple years in advance, those prices are already set and the company could not pass on the cost of the tax to those customers BRIEFLY Federal regulators divvying up Oregon’s stored water protected under the Endangered Species Act, said Mary Anne Nash, public policy counsel for the Oregon Farm Bureau. “It halted the process while they did that work,” she said. Under a biological opinion completed in 2008, the amount of water slated for irrigation is capped at 95,000 acre feet, but the Oregon Farm Bureau and other irrigator groups hope to increase agriculture’s share under the Army Corps’ alloca- tion process. Currently, irrigators in the Willa- mette Valley have contracted with the federal government to use 74,000 acre-feet of the water available. It’s too early to tell how much water will realistically be devoted to irrigation under the allocation plan, which is expected to be submitted for approval by Congress in 2018, said Nash. Apart from the water supply, growers must have the facilities to convey it to their crops, she said. “That’s been a missing piece for quite a while.” Due to the expense involved, such infrastructure has largely been built near the river systems on which the dams are located, Nash said. The longer-term goal is to irrigate farm- land that’s further away from those sources. By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI EO Media Group SALEM — Federal regulators are again delving into the process of dividing up roughly 1.6 million acre-feet of water stored behind 13 dams in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Those dams, from Detroit to Cottage Grove, perform Àood control during the rainy winter months but also hold water during the spring and summer that’s designated for joint use by irrigators, municipalities, industries, recreationists and ¿sh. Exactly how much water is allocated for each use is currently unde¿ned, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — which operates the dams — is under an internal deadline to ration it out by mid-2017. The agency recently restarted the earliest “scoping” phase of the allocation process, which involves collecting information from the public on water needs. Future irrigation demands calcu- lated by the Oregon Water Resources Department and Oregon Department of Agriculture will be considered by the Corps. The process of allocating the water was previously undertaken in the 1990s but was postponed by a “biological opinion” that analyzed the impact of dams on several ¿sh Didn’t receive your paper?&DOO EHIRUHQRRQ7XHVGD\WKURXJK)ULGD\ RUEHIRUHDP6DWXUGD\ for same-day redelivery — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 2I¿FHKRXUV0RQGD\WKURXJK)ULGD\DPWRSP &ORVHGPDMRUKROLGD\V SUBSCRIPTION RATES /RFDOKRPHGHOLYHU\ 6DYLQJVRIIFRYHUSULFH (=3D\ SHUFHQW ZHHNV SHUFHQW ZHHNV SHUFHQW ZHHNV SHUFHQW (=3D\ RQH\HDUUDWHZLWKDPRQWKO\FUHGLWRUGHELWFDUGFKHFNFKDUJH www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ (DVW2UHJRQLDQ(USPS 164-980)LVSXEOLVKHGGDLO\H[FHSW6XQGD\0RQGD\ DQG'HFE\WKH(20HGLD*URXS6(%\HUV$YH3HQGOHWRQ25 3HULRGLFDOVSRVWDJHSDLGDW3HQGOHWRQ25Postmaster:VHQGDGGUHVVFKDQJHVWR (DVW2UHJRQLDQ6(%\HUV$YH3HQGOHWRQ25 Mostly cloudy and breezy Partly sunny 53° 38° 57° 43° FRIDAY Mostly cloudy and breezy A bit of morning snow Partly sunny PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 54° 33° 53° 39° 59° 38° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 60° 39° 61° 45° PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH Yesterday Normals Records LOW 60° 56° 78° (1915) 35° 36° 19° (1913) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.25" 1.15" 0.92" 3.52" 2.02" 3.47" HERMISTON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH Yesterday Normals Records LOW 59° 59° 78° (1934) 35° 35° 20° (1944) PRECIPITATION 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date 0.35" 0.98" 0.64" 2.47" 1.25" 2.91" SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Full Last Mar 23 Mar 31 New Apr 7 61° 31° 59° 42° 62° 36° Seattle 55/44 ALMANAC 6:54 a.m. 7:11 p.m. 6:41 p.m. 6:37 a.m. First Apr 13 NEWS To submit news tips and press releases:FDOO ID[HPDLOQHZV#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP Multimedia consultants 7HUUL%ULJJV WEULJJV#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP -HDQQH-HZHWW MMHZHWW#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP 6WHSKDQLH1HZVRP VQHZVRP#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP 'D\OH6WLQVRQ GVWLQVRQ#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: HPDLOFRPPXQLW\#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRPRUFDOO7DPP\0DOJHVLQL LQ+HUPLVWRQDWRU5HQHH6WUXWKHUVLQ3HQGOHWRQDW Today Spokane Wenatchee 49/35 58/38 Tacoma Moses 56/41 Lake Pullman Aberdeen Olympia Yakima 60/33 46/35 53/44 55/42 61/34 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 55/44 52/40 Lewiston 61/38 Astoria 53/37 53/44 Portland Enterprise Hermiston 57/43 Pendleton 43/30 The Dalles 60/39 53/38 58/39 La Grande Salem 49/34 56/42 Albany Corvallis 55/43 55/42 John Day 48/37 Ontario Eugene Bend 55/34 54/41 45/25 Caldwell Burns 54/32 45/26 Astoria Baker City Bend Brookings Burns Enterprise Eugene Heppner Hermiston John Day Klamath Falls La Grande Meacham Medford Newport North Bend Ontario Pasco Pendleton Portland Redmond Salem Spokane Ukiah Vancouver Walla Walla Yakima Hi 53 47 45 53 45 43 54 52 60 48 45 49 45 55 52 55 55 59 53 57 50 56 49 46 55 52 61 Lo 44 28 25 41 26 30 41 34 39 37 24 34 32 36 44 44 34 38 38 43 26 42 35 32 43 40 34 To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: HPDLOUVWUXWKHUV#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRPRUYLVLWZZZHDVWRUHJRQLDQ FRPFRPPXQLW\DQQRXQFHPHQWV To submit a Letter to the Editor:PDLOWR0DQDJLQJ(GLWRU'DQLHO :DWWHQEXUJHU6(%\HUV$YH3HQGOHWRQ25RUHPDLO HGLWRU#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: VSRUWV#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen PMHQVHQ#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP W sh sh sf sh sf sf sh sh c sh sf sh c c sh sh c c c sh c sh c sh sh c c NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Wed. Hi 54 52 52 56 50 48 59 55 61 54 53 54 50 61 54 58 57 61 57 58 55 59 49 51 56 57 62 Lo 44 31 38 45 33 33 45 40 45 42 32 39 36 42 46 47 37 44 43 46 36 46 39 37 46 44 40 W r pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc pc c pc pc pc pc c pc c pc pc c pc pc WORLD CITIES Today Beijing Hong Kong Jerusalem London Mexico City Moscow Paris Rome Seoul Sydney Tokyo Hi 60 72 60 54 74 29 52 72 55 71 58 Lo 40 66 47 42 51 17 39 51 36 62 46 W c sh s pc pc sn pc t pc sh pc Wed. Hi 58 74 69 54 78 28 52 61 54 77 59 Lo 29 62 57 41 54 16 40 45 32 64 42 W pc sh s pc pc sf pc c pc s pc WINDS Medford 55/36 (in mph) Klamath Falls 45/24 Boardman Pendleton REGIONAL FORECAST Coastal Oregon: Mostly cloudy today with a few showers. Partly cloudy tonight with a few showers. Eastern and Central Oregon: A shower in places today; however, a snow shower near the Cascades. Western Washington: Mostly cloudy today with brief showers. A couple of showers across the south tonight. Eastern Washington: Mostly cloudy today with a shower; snow, accumulating 1-3 inches in the mountains. Cascades: Mostly cloudy today. A shower; snow, accumulating 1-3 inches in the south. Northern California: Mostly cloudy today; a shower; however, a bit of snow in the interior mountains. Today Wednesday WSW 10-20 W 10-20 WSW 8-16 WSW 8-16 UV INDEX TODAY Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. 0 2 3 PORTLAND (AP) — A 623-foot bulk carrier ran aground in a narrow part of the Columbia River near Cathlamet, Washington. The U.S. Coast Guard says the vessel loaded with grain was heading west with a river pilot still onboard when it ran into trouble early Monday. Two tug boats are on the scene to keep it stabilized. The vessel named Sparna contains more than 200,000 gallons of high sulfur fuel and about 40,000 gallons of diesel. Capt. Dan Travers of the Port for the Columbia River says responders have not seen any oil in the water. The cause of the incident remains under investigation. ADVERTISING Advertising Director: Jennine Perkinson MSHUNLQVRQ#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP REGIONAL CITIES SATURDAY Grounded vessel in Columbia River; no sign of oil in water Corrections Real Estate Advertising: Jodi Snook MVQRRN#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP THURSDAY Retirement Savings Plan, unless they opt out, as soon as July 2017. The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. Legal Advertising:$PDQGD-DFREV DMDFREV#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP Single copy price: 7XHVGD\WKURXJK)ULGD\6DWXUGD\ Forecast WEDNESDAY BEND (AP) — The Oregon State Treasury says about 1 million Oregon residents have no way to save for retirement through their employers. The Bulletin reports that ¿gure is more than 40 percent higher than the previous estimates of Oregon workers who lack access to work-based retirement plans. The total combines workers whose employers do not offer retirement plans, workers who are not eligible for their employers’ plans and self- employed Oregon residents who do not have retirement plans. Members of the Oregon Retirement Savings Board, who are designing the state retirement plan, heard the estimates during a meeting Tuesday. Workers not covered by employer’s retirement plans would be automatically enrolled and contribute to the Oregon &ODVVLÀHG$GYHUWLVLQJ FODVVL¿HGV#HDVWRUHJRQLDQFRP Copyright © 2016, EO Media Group TODAY Many don’t have workplace retirement Drought conditions like those in 2015 may increase irrigation demands in future years. More farmers in the region are also growing higher-value crops, such as blueberries, that require summer irrigation. Greg Bennett, an onion farmer near Salem, said the Willamette Valley may have an opportunity to increase vegetable production as California farmers continue to face water scarcity. “I’m really hoping we can realize the value of what we have,” he said. While the 13 dams have the capacity to store 1.6 million acre- feet, that represents ideal water conditions, said Kathryn Warner, an environmental scientist at the Corps. Realistically, the dams hold about 1.4 million acre feet of water during an adequate year, and 500,000 acre- feet are dedicated to in-stream uses for ¿sh under the current biological opinion. The amount designated to irri- gation could rise above 95,000 acre feet, but the entire allocation plan must be reviewed under the National Environmental Policy Act, Warner said. This process will include inter- agency consultation on species impacts and may require another biological opinion, Warner said. Subscriber services: For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255 for a couple years, O’Connor said. “We’re a company that keeps a lot of people working,” O’Connor said. “We pay our taxes, we pay our wages, pay benies. But we are one of the companies that will probably get signi¿cantly impacted by this thing if it passes.” Potiowsky wrote in an email that he did not intend to provide commentary on Our Oregon’s initiative, known as IP 28. “So my comment was not a value judgment on gross receipts taxes or IP 28, that is, not making a statement as to whether IP 28 is either good or bad policy,” Potiowsky wrote. “Very brieÀy, I said that much more research is needed on the likely net impacts to the economy from IP 28, and that the issue is quite complicated. I am sure that in the next months, we will see IP 28 getting a lot of medical attention from spin doctors.” ——— The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. Hillary Borrud can be reached at 503-364-4431 or hborrud@ eomediagroup.com. 3 2 0 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. 0-2, Low 3-5, Moderate 6-7, High; 8-10, Very High; 11+, Extreme The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num- ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -10s -0s showers t-storms 0s 10s rain 20s flurries 30s 40s snow ice 50s 60s cold front 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front high 110s low National Summary: Most areas from the Four Corners to the Atlantic coast can expect sun- shine today. Warmth will expand in the South Central states. Rain and snow will affect the Upper Midwest and the Northwest. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 94° in Imperial, Calif. Low 5° in Grand Marais, Minn. NATIONAL CITIES Today Albuquerque Atlanta Atlantic City Baltimore Billings Birmingham Boise Boston Charleston, SC Charleston, WV Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit El Paso Fairbanks Fargo Honolulu Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Little Rock Los Angeles Hi 75 68 52 59 52 68 50 47 69 65 61 58 75 68 58 84 33 44 81 73 62 70 74 70 70 69 Lo 37 45 47 47 29 50 33 39 50 46 46 46 62 32 47 56 11 26 69 62 49 48 59 49 55 52 W pc s pc pc c s c s s pc pc c s pc c pc pc c t s s s s s s pc Wed. Hi 58 73 64 69 51 73 55 55 79 73 50 52 83 41 51 71 36 39 81 77 63 78 77 69 72 75 Lo 30 55 49 49 33 58 38 39 57 52 41 48 47 22 43 39 10 22 69 54 54 57 32 50 53 55 W pc pc pc pc sn pc pc c s pc r c t sn r pc c pc sh pc c s pc s pc s Today Louisville Memphis Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis Nashville New Orleans New York City Oklahoma City Omaha Philadelphia Phoenix Portland, ME Providence Raleigh Rapid City Reno Sacramento St. Louis Salt Lake City San Diego San Francisco Seattle Tucson Washington, DC Wichita Hi 65 66 75 53 53 67 71 53 78 75 57 80 44 46 65 54 50 63 71 48 67 62 55 84 62 81 Lo 50 55 66 36 32 50 60 46 58 47 47 54 34 39 44 27 29 43 55 35 54 49 44 49 48 54 W s s pc c c s s pc s pc pc s pc s s sh c pc s sh pc pc c pc pc s Wed. Hi Lo W 68 59 pc 70 56 pc 81 73 pc 40 32 r 39 25 sn 71 60 pc 78 66 pc 67 49 pc 77 37 s 54 28 r 69 49 pc 77 52 pc 46 30 r 61 41 c 75 52 s See 39 ECON 22 sn 58 33 s 68 44 s 69 47 c 49 35 sn 73 54 s 65 51 s 54 44 c 73 43 pc 72 54 pc 73 33 s Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.