Opinion
4A
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Our View
123RF
Oregonians could end up paying 8.75% tax on their fed-
eral stimuli payments unless state lawmakers intervene
with new legislation.
Keep taxes off
stimulus checks
T
he federal stimulus checks helped a lot
of Oregonians out when they needed it.
And it also is going to help out Oregon
government.
The federal government is not taxing the stim-
ulus payments. But Oregon does tax the stimulus
payments at the state’s tax rate of 8.75%.
According to the Legislative Revenue Offi ce, a
couple who received $3,400 in stimulus payments
would have to pay about $298. That could mean
your tax refund loses a chunk, or it could mean
you end up owing taxes because of the stimulus
payment.
Not exactly what most folks would anticipate
when it came to the federal assistance.
That tax is going to put about $100 mil-
lion in revenue into state coffers for the 2019-21
biennium and another $9 million in 2021-23,
according to the Oregon Legislative Revenue
Offi ce.
Does that sound right to you? The stimulus
checks sure seemed to be for helping individuals,
not helping state government.
This is not some scheme that came about from
Gov. Kate Brown. This has been part of Oregon’s
tax code for a while.
Back in 2008, under the second Bush admin-
istration, millions of American’s received one-
time stimulus payments as part of the $152 billion
Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 at the start of
the Great Recession, and Oregonians had to pay
taxes on the checks they received.
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, a Democrat, wants
state lawmakers to pass a bill to eliminate the
tax liability the state requires Oregonians to pay
on federal stimulus payments. State Sen. Dick
Anderson, R-Lincoln City, is working on such a
proposal that could drop early next week. State
Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, said he does not
think the state should tax the payments and there
seems to bipartisan support along those lines. The
idea has at least half a nod from Oregon House
Speaker Tina Kotek, a Democrat. A spokesperson
said Kotek “supports the House Revenue Chair
evaluating this issue.”
But lawmakers should act fast on this matter
because of earlier tax fi lers. Fixes to not tax the
stimulus payments should take those Oregonians
into account as well.
Tell your legislator what you think.
Contact your representatives
STATE OFFICIALS
U.S. OFFICIALS
Gov. Kate Brown
900 Court Street N.E., Suite
254, Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
Sen. Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. N.E., S-423
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@
oregonlegislature.gov
Rep. Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. N.E., H-376,
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@
oregon legislature.gov
Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20510; 202-224-5244
La Grande offi ce: 541-962-7691
Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Offi ce
Building, Washington, D.C.,
20510; 202-224-3753;
Pendleton offi ce: 541-278-1129
Rep. Cliff Bentz
1239 Longworth House Offi ce
building, Washington, D.C.,
20515; 202-225-6730
Medford offi ce: 541-776-4646
Other views
Act will protect more Oregon rivers and streams
RON WYDEN
U.S. SENATOR
regon is special for many rea-
sons. But two attributes are
near and dear to my heart: our
state’s unmatched natural treasures
and our fi rm commitment to democ-
racy that I call the “Oregon Way.”
With those attributes in mind, I
was proud this month, along with Sen.
Jeff Merkley, to introduce the River
Democracy Act.
The legislation proposes to protect
our natural treasures by adding nearly
4,700 miles of rivers and streams
in Oregon to the national Wild and
Scenic Rivers system — the largest
Wild and Scenic Rivers effort in U.S.
history.
And the bill takes its name from
the fact that the proposed rivers and
stream additions came directly from
more than 15,000 nominations sub-
mitted by Oregonians statewide.
That open public process encour-
aged Oregonians to nominate rivers
that are outstanding for their recre-
ation, fi sh and wildlife habitat, or
because they provide clean drinking
water. This bill represents, for
example, nominations for the Uma-
tilla River and Middle Fork John Day
by the Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation.
O
In addition to refl ecting Orego-
nians’ desire to protect our spectac-
ular rivers for generations to come,
the bill would continue to rev up our
state’s outdoor recreation economy —
which, according to the Outdoor Rec-
reation Industry, supports 224,000
jobs statewide and generates $15.6 bil-
lion in consumer spending. The leg-
islation was crafted with the input
of small businesses across Oregon
who know these protections support
hunting, fi shing, and outdoor recre-
ation, and will help them as they fi ght
to recover from the pandemic as more
and more Oregonians fi nd refuge and
safety in the outdoors.
And we did this the “Oregon Way.”
We solicited nominations from the
people who interact with these rivers
every single day. And we listened to
concerns these folks were having in
real time by taking a 21st century con-
servation approach that considers the
climate emergency and the sobering
risks that wildfi re poses to Oregon
families and small businesses.
In the devastating aftermath of
the historic infernos that ripped
through Oregon communities this
past fall, I made sure the River
Democracy Act takes multiple, nec-
essary steps to protect homes, busi-
nesses, and our state’s special places
from wildfi res.
Those steps include the require-
ment that federal land management
agencies assess the risks of wildfi re
in Wild and Scenic River corridors as
well as near homes and businesses,
and develop a risk reduction plan that
must be implemented immediately.
The bill also allows federal land
management agencies to enter into
cooperative wildfi re-fi ghting agree-
ments with states and local govern-
ments and establishes a federal grant
program for states and local gov-
ernments to help repair drinking
water quality, watersheds, and
infrastructure.
I intend this bill to protect fed-
eral public land, and believe strongly
that private property rights must be
upheld. This includes farming and
ranching, which are vital to many
local economies around the state. The
legislation takes great care to state in
plain English that “Nothing in this Act
or an amendment made by this Act
affects private property rights.”
And fi nally, the bill includes lan-
guage that explicitly makes it clear
that valid or vested water rights
will not be affected; and the state of
Oregon can still administer water
rights in accordance with state laws
and regulations.
So it’s in the true spirit of the
“Oregon Way” that the proposed
River Democracy Act now
opens a new round of conversation
among us as Oregonians.
———
Ron Wyden is Oregon’s
senior U.S. senator.
Letter to the editor
HB 2379 is key to restoring
some of your tax dollars
For decades, corporate timber
companies benefi ted from tax cuts
that cut local county budgets across
the state. Residents also suffered
when they were forced to make up
for the losses to maintain schools
and other county programs as a
result of those corporate tax cuts.
Taxpayers have increasingly
been asked to make up the differ-
ence and for some counties and res-
idents in the state that meant higher
property taxes, fees or cuts to
existing programs and services.
What we do know is that Oregon
timber companies previously paid
a severance tax on the value of the
trees they logged. And these timber
barons have not paid their fair share
because lawmakers passed a series
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of lopsided tax cuts that resulted in
lowering the funding provided to
schools and local governments.
What can and should be done?
House Bill 2379 before the Oregon
Legislature is key to restoring
some of your tax dollars. The bill
imposes a severance tax on owners
of timber at time of harvest at 5%
of value of the timber and directs
revenue from the severance tax into
the Emergency Wildfi re Fund.
Let’s face it, if you think about
the demographics in counties —
they’ve been hit hard by logging,
the people are relatively strapped,
and so when the local option comes
up for large timber companies and
says, “We’re going to increase your
property taxes, we’re going to pass
this measure, do you voluntarily
support it?” They say “NO!”
Just look at a fi re services pro-
posal to merge the city of Union’s
fi re department and the Union
Rural Fire Department and you
kind of get a picture for how
tax forgiveness works.
Randy Knop
Union