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Business AgLife Program helps with internet access Thursday, March 10, 2022 The Observer & Baker City Herald ‘Bracket creep’ increases among Oregonians Many rising incomes put more Oregon residents in higher tax brackets Low-income Oregon households eligible for high-speed internet discount through federal program By MIKE ROGOWAY The Oregonian By MIKE ROGOWAY The Oregonian SALEM — A new federal program will subsidize internet connections for low-income households, paying $30 a month to help people cover the cost of online access. All three of Oregon’s major broad- band providers, Comcast, CenturyLink and Ziply Fiber, are participating, as are leading wireless internet car- riers AT&T and Verizon. Comcast, the state’s largest internet provider, esti- mates that more than 180,000 house- holds are eligible in its service territory in Oregon and Southwest Washington. The new $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program is the successor to the Emergency Broadband Benefit that Congress established during the pandemic. The older program, which expired Tuesday, drew on temporary funding established by COVID-19 relief pro- grams and paid up to $50 a month to offset internet costs at a time when millions of people were working and attending school remotely. Congress authorized the new Affordable Connectivity Program last fall as a long-term successor. It pays $30 a month, or up to $75 for house- holds on tribal lands. People qualify if their household income is less than double the federal poverty standard. That means a single person with an income below $27,000 a year quali- fies; for a family of four, the qualifying standard is $55,500. People also qualify if they participate in certain federal public assistance programs, among them food stamps, Medicaid and the National School Lunch Program. The federal government is taking applications online at acpbenefit.org. Eligible applicants have the money applied to their monthly internet bills. Some families with low incomes can receive free internet service through the new program. Com- cast’s Internet Essentials program, for example, offers discounted internet service to families that qualify for free and reduced-price school lunches, Medicaid, food stamps and other programs. People who qualify for Internet Essentials, which offers downloads of up to 50 megabits per second, can have the entire cost of their internet connec- tion paid for by the Affordable Connec- tivity Program. B Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group, File A sign marks a home for sale in La Grande on Friday, Nov. 26, 2021. A judge in March 2022 blocked Oregon’s law prohibiting buyers from providing “love letters” and personal photographs to sellers as a way to improve their chances of getting the house they want. Real estate ‘love letters’ Prospective homebuyers can again write personal notes to appeal to sellers in Oregon By APRIL EHRLICH Oregon Public Broadcasting S ALEM — A federal judge on Friday, March 4, granted a preliminary injunction that prohibits Oregon from enforcing a law against “love letters” to home sellers. In his court order, District Judge Marco A. Hernández says Oregon’s House Bill 2550 “likely violates” the First Amendment rights of real estate agents. “It is not in the public interest to enforce a law that is likely unconstitu- tional, even one aimed at the laudable goal of reducing unlawful discrimination in housing,” his legal opinion reads. The 2021 law was the first of its kind in the nation. It prohibited buyers from providing “love letters” and per- sonal photographs to sellers as a way to improve their chances of getting the house they want. Supporters argue that these letters perpetuate housing discrim- ination by revealing a buyer’s race, reli- gion, sexual orientation or marital status. The real estate market has grown uneasy with love letters because they risk raising a housing discrimination claim. Many real estate agents won’t accept them. Still, proponents say these letters are often the only edge a first- time buyer has against deep-pocketed investors that buy entry-level homes. Shortly after the law passed, the con- servative Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Bend-based Total Real Estate Group. They filed the lawsuit See, Letters/Page B6 PORTLAND — Most Oregonians have enjoyed steadily rising incomes dating back to the end of the Great Recession, but it’s been an especially lucrative stretch for those at the top end of the income spectrum. Oregon had about 75,000 tax- payers in the state’s top income tax bracket in 2020, according to state data, triple the number in 2010. State economists call this “bracket creep,” the steady rise in the tax rate that people pay as their incomes rise. And it’s a driving force behind Ore- gon’s rapidly growing state revenues. Oregon personal income tax rates range from 4.75% to 9.9%. People pay the top rate on incomes over $125,000-$250,000 for couples filing jointly. While just under 4% of Orego- nians pay the state’s highest tax rate, they account for more than a third of the personal income taxes Oregon collects. And those rising incomes fill the state’s tax coffers to overflowing. “Not only does that income get taxed, the average tax rate goes up because a lot of our taxpayers now are moving into higher tax brackets. And so they’re taxed at a higher rate,” state economist Mark McMullen explained to Oregon law- makers in his quarterly revenue fore- cast this month. Not coincidentally, he forecast that Oregonians will likely get yet another kicker rebate in 2024. Corporate tax payments are up, too, but Oregon’s general fund relies primarily on personal income taxes. The general fund receives nine times more from personal income taxes than from taxes on company profits. Company profits do filter through to personal income taxes, too. A decade of bull market returns on Wall Street prompted people to cash in, selling stocks and other assets — thereby producing more taxable income for themselves. It’s a two-way street, of course. Incomes usually fall when the economy falters. And declines on Wall Street are magnified in Ore- gon’s personal income tax payments, because people are less likely to sell depressed assets. And if they do sell, they sell for less. “We get very drastic losses when we have a traditional recession,” McMullen said, “as taxpayers fall out of this top tax rate.” Potential county hemp restrictions raise concerns about Oregon industry high demand and healthful effects of cannabidiol, or CBD, caused a surge in SALEM — Oregon coun- hemp production that was ties may suspend new hemp soon followed by a surplus, production under a law prompting many farmers to recently passed by the Leg- abandon or reduce cultiva- islature, raising concerns tion of the crop. Acreage across the U.S. in the hemp industry about dropped by more than 50% farmers missing economic last year, while Oregon’s opportunities. Under Senate Bill 1564, acreage plummeted more which now awaits the sig- than 80%, according to nature of Gov. Kate Brown, Whitney. county governments can At the same time, Oregon declare an emergency to stop law enforcement author- ities have complained to the issuance of new state hemp licenses for two years. state lawmakers that hemp Hemp production in is being used to disguise the Oregon has already fallen illegal production of mar- precipitously due to an over- ijuana, a related cannabis supply, but county restric- crop with psychoactive tions could hinder an properties. industry resurgence at a time “When you can’t regu- late an industry, it makes no when new uses for the crop are multiplying, experts say. sense to add more work for “The negative impact is it our regulatory agencies,” sends a message to the rest testified Nathan Sickler, of the country that Oregon Jackson County’s sheriff, is not where you want to do during a legislative hearing hemp,” said Beau Whitney, last month. an economist who tracks the The original language industry. “It puts the state of SB 1564 would have farther and farther behind.” imposed a two-year morato- rium on new hemp licenses, Excitement about the By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Press CBD, including bioplastics and livestock feed, he said. The crop can even by used as an alternative to lithium in batteries. Meanwhile, carbon credits — which are sold to offset emissions — are poised to become a new revenue source for hemp farmers, he said. “This regulatory uncer- tainty is impacting the fiber and grain side,” Whitney Mateusz Perkowski/Capital Press, File said. “It’s suppressing the Hemp is harvested from an Oregon field in this undated photo. A growth and development. 2022 bill that permits counties to suspend new hemp production has At the time Oregon should raised concerns about farmers missing economic opportunities. be supporting hemp on an industrial scale, it’s trying to but the bill was amended so port the narrative at all,” he put restrictions on hemp.” said, referring to licensed that the decision was left to Mark Taylor, founder hemp growers allegedly pro- of the Southern Oregon counties. ducing black market mari- The idea was to provide Hemp Cooperative, said the juana. “Will this really do “local control” since the bill could punish growers any good? Probably not.” problem with sham hemp who wisely decided to stop Whitney said it’s com- farms was mostly reported growing hemp tempo- mendable that lawmakers rarily due to the oversupply in Jackson and Josephine scaled back the bill’s scope or for crop rotation. It also counties. in response to hemp industry blocks legitimate newcomers However, the amount concerns, but he fears the with fresh ideas from the of licensed hemp grown bill still sends the wrong industry. in hoop house systems “They’re penalizing us common for marijuana rep- signal. resents less than 2% of state Hemp is seeing new for their lack of pre-plan- ning,” Taylor said of state acreage, Whitney said. demand in products that lawmakers. “You restrict “The data does not sup- have nothing to do with brainpower that could come in and do it better.” Oregon hemp farmers have drastically scaled back planting in response to market conditions, which isn’t recognized by lawmakers who don’t understand the industry, Taylor said. “The market self-adjusted and they gave no due to that whatsoever,” he said. The state government would have been more effec- tive with outreach and edu- cation to the hemp industry and other farmers, warning them to keep an eye out for bad actors who’d attempt illicit marijuana production, Taylor said. “I don’t think government spends enough time on the ground,” he said. “They’re in their ivory tower.” County restrictions would diminish the industry’s com- petitive spirit and amount to the government “picking winners and losers” by allowing existing growers to keep their licenses, Taylor said. “It all speaks of gov- ernment overreach.”