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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2016
Measure 97 proponents unveil
new corporate sales tax proposal
A Better Oregon
proposes tax hike
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The two sides
that clashed bitterly over a cor-
porate sales tax measure on the
November ballot profess to a
willingness to work together
to find a solution to Oregon’s
chronic revenue instability.
But so far, both appear to be
marking their battle lines, only
this time for a skirmish in the
Legislature rather than at the
ballot box. Lawmakers face a
delicate tightrope act in which
they hope to prevent alienating
one side or the other.
Many of the players from
both sides will remain the
same as the fight moves to
Salem. And in many ways,
their messages going forward
echo those they highlighted
during the election.
Business leaders have
conceded the state needs
more revenue. But they are
demanding state pension
reform and curtailed spending
before they agree to any new
business taxes.
Meanwhile, A Better Ore-
gon, which ran the Measure
97 campaign, continues to
hammer on the need for big
corporations to be more trans-
parent and to pay their fair
share.
State Sen. Mark Hass,
D-Beaverton, chairman of the
Senate Committee on Reve-
nue, recently illustrated the
challenge with a quip: If he
could get people to agree to
tax guitar playing, he would
go for it.
A Better Oregon, a coa-
lition of public unions and
advocacy groups, unveiled its
legislative proposals includ-
ing a scaled-back corpo-
rate sales tax, an expansion
of health care provider taxes
and a requirement that com-
panies disclose what they pay
in taxes.
Paris Achen/Capital Bureau
Andrea Paluso, executive director of Family Forward Or-
egon, announces A Better Oregon’s legislative proposals
for the 2017 session during a press conference Tuesday at
the state Capitol in Salem.
Meanwhile, the business
community is solidifying
the power it realized during
the election, when its uni-
fied resources and messaging
defeated the $3 billion annual
tax measure.
During the annual Oregon
Leadership Summit earlier
this month, business leaders
said they were open to new
business taxes, but only if
lawmakers also reformed the
costly state retirement plan
and made an effort to clean up
wasteful spending. Pension
reform will likely be a stick-
ing point for the union-backed
A Better Oregon, which has
said it opposes any reductions
to retirement benefits.
Those same business
leaders, however, have not
answered calls from Gov.
Kate Brown and others to
present specific revenue-rais-
ing proposals they would
accept. Brown used her
speech at the leadership sum-
mit to specifically ask busi-
ness leaders for such propos-
als. Business representatives
say it’s up to the governor to
make the first move.
“Right now, we would
hope and expect that the gov-
ernor and elected leaders will
lead this process,” said Sam
Tannahill, chairman of the
Oregon Business Association.
“The governor certainly put a
challenge in front of the busi-
ness community. However,
at the same time, she said in
the same speech: ‘Make no
mistake; we will lead.’ That
is something we are expect-
ing her to do. The only thing
we are saying is everything
should be on the table.”
The Oregon Business
Association and Associated
Oregon Industries, which
will merge in July, will be
main players in any negotia-
tions over new business taxes.
They’ll coordinate efforts
through regular meetings
of a new 10-member exec-
utive committee, Tannahill
said. The lineup has yet to be
finalized, but representatives
from Portland General Elec-
tric, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch, PacifiCorp Transmis-
sion and A-dec dental equip-
ment and supplies will have
seats on the committee.
A Better Oregon, which
offered the corporate sales
tax measure that was defeated
in November, has proposed
a smaller tax of 2 percent on
corporations’ Oregon sales
exceeding $100 million.
The tax would raise about
$4 billion a biennium to
address the state’s projected
$1.7 billion revenue short-
fall for 2017-19 and increase
spending for education and
health care. A Better Oregon
also endorses a proposal by
the governor to expand the
health care provider tax.
The new corporate tax
proposal is 0.5 percentage
points less than the 2.5 per-
cent rate proposed in Measure
97 and applies to all corpo-
rations with sales exceeding
$100 million instead of only
C corporations’ sales exceed-
ing $25 million. Utility com-
panies would be exempt from
the tax.
The changes were a
response to criticism of Mea-
sure 97, said Andrea Paluso,
executive director of Family
Forward Oregon, a member
of A Better Oregon.
“It would protect home-
grown businesses and call on
the largest corporations doing
business in our state to pay
their fair share,” Paluso said.
Lawmakers are still brain-
storming ideas for raising rev-
enue that would satisfy both
sides. Sen. Hass may try to
revive his proposal, made
during this year’s February
session, for a commercial
activity tax. The tax would
replace the corporate income
tax. A .39 percent tax on busi-
nesses with sales greater than
$5 million would raise $1.3
billion in 2017-19 and $2 bil-
lion in 2019-21, according to
the nonpartisan Legislative
Revenue Office. However,
eliminating the corporate
income tax would trim the net
revenue gain to $500 million
to $1 billion, Hass said.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Warrenton wants
public feedback
on asset restriction
Town hall
planned for
January
By DERRICK
DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — The
Warrenton City Commission
wants to hear more from the
public about the intent behind
a charter amendment that
restricted the transfer of city
assets.
The amendment, approved
by voters 56 percent to 44 per-
cent in November, requires
double-majority
voter
approval to transfer city assets
valued at more than $100,000.
Backers of the ballot mea-
sure had opposed a potential
city land swap with Warrenton
Fiber for Tansy Point in 2014.
But the restriction could also
apply to city assets such as fire
trucks, water and sewer pipes,
and contractual rights.
Mayor Mark Kujala rec-
ommended a town hall meet-
ing in January to get public
feedback. The mayor and city
commissioners want clarifi-
cation on what kind of assets
and contractual rights should
be covered.
Depending on the feed-
back, the City Commission
could draft an ordinance clari-
fying the restriction or ask vot-
ers to refine the charter amend-
ment in May.
“The reason I think it’s nec-
essary is that this could very
well impact the business activ-
ities for the city,” Kujala said at
a work session Tuesday night.
The City Commission had
objected to the charter amend-
ment, arguing that it was too
broad and could handcuff the
city.
Ken Yuill, of the Warren-
ton Property Protection Com-
mittee, which supported the
amendment, said the “voters
have spoken.
“And it’s pretty plain
exactly what the result on that
was,” he said. “Now we’ll just
have to wait and see.”
Commission recommends
$574 million hike in
transportation spending
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
Transportation Commission
has recommended state leg-
islators boost transporta-
tion spending by $574 mil-
lion a year to upgrade roads
and bridges and relieve traf-
fic congestion in metro areas.
The figure is the first con-
crete proposal in play for
a transportation package,
which is expected to be one
of the major issues in front of
the Legislature in 2017. The
legislation will likely send
hundreds of millions of dol-
lars to the state Department
of Transportation.
Transportation commis-
sioners presented a draft
report outlining their rec-
ommendations Tuesday to
the legislative committee
charged with crafting the
transportation package. The
transportation commission
was scheduled to formally
vote on the recommenda-
tions Thursday.
“We are creating a menu
for you to start from,” said
Tammy Baney, transportation
commission chairwoman.
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