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Oregon one few states to tax
families below poverty line
BY CASSANDRA KOLSEN
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
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regon’s income tax system has been
found to be one of the nation’s least
favorable for low-income families by
the Washington, D.C.-based Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities. Among only
16 states to impose income tax on two- -
parent families of four living at or below the
federal poverty line, Oregon also boasts the
second highest income tax bills for families
earning just above i t
The federal poverty line in 2008 was
$17,165 for a single-parent of two dependant
children, and $22,017 for a two-parent family
of four. However, the CBPP report released
Nov. 4 states that in Oregon income tax
liability begins at $16,000 for a family of
three, and $18,900 for a family of four,
when estimated to the nearest $100. While
the single-parent family of three owed $96,
the family of four at the lowest possible
income tax threshold owed $311.
“By taxing people who are in poverty we
are working against efforts to support self- .
sufficiency,” says Joy Margheim, policy
analyst for the Oregon Center for Public
Policy. “It makes it that much harder to get
Weep for the Concrete Angel
By Sherry Asbury
ahead, because these families are incurring
expenses as they try to work towards
providing food, transportation, childcare and
other basic needs.”
Families keeping themselves just above
the poverty line also face higher income
taxes in Oregon than most states. A family c
of four earning 125 percent of the poverty
¿nè, or $27,521, owed $875 in 2008; a
single-parent family of three making
$21,456 owed $529.
. The Oregon Center for Public Policy
released a report last month explaining two
measures enacted by the state legislature
that attempt to create new tax revenue arid
address the ability of taxpayers to pay the
taxes. The measures, which go to popular
vote in January, will create $733 million
dollars in new revenue.
Currently the highest-income Oregonians
pay the lowest percentage of their income
to state and local taxes, a gap Measures 66
and 67 will begin to narrow by slightly
increasing the amount the wealthiest
Oregonians will be taxed. Even with the
measures, the report states, those in the
top one perecent will still pay the smallest
share of income taxes.
She found a pair of mittens *
matted to the bottorii of a dumpster;
pulled them on to hide the running sores
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Cold worked its way through her like fire,
sizzling nerve endings and bringing
a flow of snot down over her mouth,
.which was gasping, gaping with the
difficulty she found in breathing the
formidable night air, steam puffing like a
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Her eyes were nearly crusted shut.
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Cops found her at 3:00 AM, hands folded
as if in worship of her tiny concrete world.
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