2A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017
Federal tax reform plan could cost Oregonians
in state and local taxes from
their federal income taxes.
About half of the money
deducted came from fi lers who
earned between $100,000 and
$500,000 that year.
Paul Warner, the head of
the nonpartisan Legislative
Revenue Offi ce, said in a Sep-
tember presentation to the
Oregon Senate Finance and
Revenue Committee that the
repeal of the deduction could
“disproportionately affect tax-
payers” in Oregon.
The policy affects states
differently because state taxes
differ.
Oregon, for example, has a
relatively high income tax, but
no statewide sales tax.
About 29 percent of Ore-
gon taxpayers could see fed-
eral tax increases as a result
Proposal to end
state and local
tax deduction
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregonians
could see their federal tax bills
increase if a key deduction is
overturned by Congress, as a
tax reform plan unveiled by the
Trump administration suggests.
The tax break, called SALT
by tax wonks, allows taxpayers
who itemize their deductions to
subtract the amount they pay in
state and local taxes from their
taxable income.
In 2015, Oregonians
deducted nearly $5.9 billion
of a repeal of the deduction,
according to fi gures Warner
cited that were compiled by
State Tax Notes, a specialty
publication. State Tax Notes
calculated an average increase
of $573.
The change wouldn’t likely
take place in isolation, though,
as the tax plan made public
last week also calls for other
changes, such as reducing fed-
eral personal and corporate
income tax rates.
Oregon would likely see
dramatic effects if any substan-
tial changes are made to federal
tax policy, legislative econo-
mists said earlier this year.
“While the ultimate form
of federal tax reform is highly
uncertain, Oregon is uniquely
positioned to experience sig-
nifi cant revenue effects both
A GOP plan to reform the
federal tax code could cost
Oregonians the deduction of
state and local taxes, which
totaled $5.9 billion in 2015.
positive and negative,” they
noted in a March report.
Not only does Oregon auto-
matically connect itself to any
change in federal tax bases,
but economists also cited the
state’s heavy reliance on the
personal income tax and it’s
“one-of-a-kind” kicker pol-
icy that refunds income tax
revenues when they arrive in
excess of projections.
Key Oregon lawmakers
on both sides of the aisle have
criticized the state’s reliance
on the income tax for some
time now.
But the Legislature is
unlikely to make big changes
to state taxes until 2019, due
both to the issue’s complexity
and political sensitivity.
Warner made his presen-
tation on the heels of a legis-
lative session where lawmak-
ers, the business lobby and
union groups were still smart-
ing from a tough union-backed
ballot measure campaign to
create a tax on corporate sales.
Uncertainty about federal
reforms was another reason
for legislative “foot-dragging”
when it came to big changes to
the state’s system in this year’s
session, said s tate Sen. Mark
Hass, D-Beaverton. Hass is a
leading advocate for restruc-
turing state taxes.
Could the repeal of the
state and local deduction by
a Trump White House and a
Republican-led Congress actu-
ally provide fuel for largely
Democratic Oregon to tinker
with its tax structure?
Potentially, Hass said.
But he’s not holding his
breath to see what Congress
does on taxes. He pointed to
c ongressional efforts to over-
turn the Affordable Care Act,
which have thus far fi zzled,
and, he said, could have had
a bigger impact on Oregon’s
budget.
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
Supreme Court case could drain Oregon’s public-sector unions
The justices will hear the
case of Mark Janus, a child
support specialist at the Illi-
nois Department of Health-
care and Family Services, who
objects to paying fees to the
union.
A decision to strike down
the law would reverse a nearly
40-year precedent that the
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
The U.S. Supreme Court
has agreed to consider strik-
ing down mandatory fees that
support collective bargaining
by public-sector labor unions
in Oregon and several other
states.
court set in 1977 to permit the
mandatory fees.
“The case has the potential
to kill public sector unionism
as we know it,” said Keith Cun-
ningham-Parmeter, a law pro-
fessor at Willamette University
who specializes in labor law.
“Mandatory dues are the life-
blood of most unions so if the
FIVE-DAY FORECAST FOR ASTORIA
TONIGHT
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
71
45
45
A moonlit sky
Tillamook
40/68
Last
Oct 12
Coos Bay
45/70
First
Oct 19
Source: Jim Todd, OMSI
TOMORROW'S TIDES
Astoria / Port Docks
Time
6:28 a.m.
6:49 p.m.
Low
0.1 ft.
1.0 ft.
Klamath Falls
30/62
Lakeview
26/57
Ashland
38/70
REGIONAL CITIES
City
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Eugene
Ilwaco
Klamath Falls
Medford
Newberg
Newport
North Bend
Hi
57
55
64
65
64
55
64
65
61
64
Today
Lo
31
31
49
39
48
30
38
44
44
45
W
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
Hi
59
56
73
72
67
62
73
71
67
70
Tues.
Lo
28
28
51
36
49
29
40
42
46
45
W
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
City
Olympia
Pendleton
Portland
Roseburg
Salem
Seaside
Spokane
Springfi eld
Vancouver
Yakima
Hi
64
61
64
66
66
65
55
64
63
67
Today
Lo
38
34
45
41
42
45
38
39
43
38
W
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
Hi
69
62
71
73
72
69
58
72
69
68
Tues.
Lo
35
36
44
42
41
46
35
37
42
33
W
s
s
s
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
TOMORROW'S NATIONAL WEATHER
NATIONAL CITIES
Hi
78
66
81
56
84
75
89
53
87
80
85
78
77
81
86
76
83
72
84
75
85
53
72
63
76
Burns
22/58
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
Tonight's Sky: The Big Dipper stands in the north-
west early this evening. The dipper is part of Ursa
Major, the big bear.
Today
Lo
62
51
64
35
67
54
64
37
74
60
67
58
61
70
80
63
77
56
68
54
66
36
54
47
55
Ontario
38/64
Roseburg
41/73
Brookings
50/77
Oct 27
Baker
31/59
John Day
32/58
Bend
31/56
Medford
38/73
UNDER THE SKY
High
7.8 ft.
Prineville
29/59
Lebanon
39/72
Eugene
39/72
New
La Grande
33/58
Salem
42/72
Newport
44/67
Sunset tonight ........................... 6:53 p.m.
Sunrise Tuesday .......................... 7:17 a.m.
Moonrise today .......................... 5:43 p.m.
Moonset today ............................ 3:36 a.m.
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Des Moines
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
Memphis
Miami
Nashville
New Orleans
New York
Oklahoma City
Philadelphia
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Francisco
Seattle
Washington, DC
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
Pendleton
34/62
The Dalles
42/71
Portland
45/71
SUN AND MOON
Time
12:47 p.m.
none
Comfortable with plenty
of sunshine
Shown is tomorrow's weather. Temperatures are tonight's lows and tomorrow's highs.
ASTORIA
45/71
Precipitation
Sunday ............................................. 0.09"
Month to date ................................... 0.09"
Normal month to date ....................... 0.11"
Year to date .................................... 53.30"
Normal year to date ........................ 40.35"
Oct 5
70
50
REGIONAL WEATHER
Astoria through Sunday.
Temperatures
High/low ....................................... 62°/47°
Normal high/low ........................... 65°/47°
Record high ............................ 78° in 1952
Record low ............................. 35° in 1983
Full
FRIDAY
71
49
Mostly sunny and
pleasant
Sunny and pleasant
ALMANAC
THURSDAY
72
47
W
s
s
pc
pc
pc
s
s
pc
pc
s
pc
s
pc
pc
t
s
r
s
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s
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s
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Hi
78
66
84
57
78
80
88
56
87
83
78
82
75
84
86
85
85
72
80
75
84
61
74
67
76
Tues.
Lo
60
53
68
40
56
66
68
42
76
63
64
61
59
67
79
58
75
56
67
53
68
43
56
45
56
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
s
s
pc
pc
c
s
s
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pc
pc
t
s
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t
s
t
s
t
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s
s
Supreme Court says that unions
can no longer collect those
dues, that is going to be a seri-
ous cut to the union budgets.”
A reversal would likely drain
the monetary resources and
activities of public-sector unions
in 22 states, including Oregon,
where obligatory fees are legal.
The other 28 states that
have “right-to-work” laws that
make all union dues voluntary
have lower union participation
rates, according to research by
a group of social scientists who
support labor unions and fi led
an amicus brief against another
“right-to-work” case last year.
The nation’s four largest
public-sector unions — the
American Federation of State,
County and Municipal Employ-
ees , the American Federation
of Teachers , the National Edu-
cation Association and the Ser-
vice Employees International
Union — criticized the court’s
acceptance of the case.
“The Janus case is a bla-
tantly political and well-funded
plot to use the highest court in
the land to further rig the eco-
nomic rules against everyday
working people,” they wrote in
a joint statement.
“The forces behind this case
know that by joining together
in strong unions, working peo-
ple are able to win the power
and voice they need to level the
economic and political play-
ing fi eld. However, the peo-
ple behind this case simply do
not believe that working people
deserve the same freedoms they
have: to negotiate a fair return
on their work,” they added.
With confi rmation of con-
servative Justice Neil Gor-
such earlier this year, a rever-
sal of existing case law appears
likely. Last year, the Supreme
Court could not reach a deci-
sion in a similar case, Fried-
richs v. California Teachers
Association. A 4- 4 tie among
the justices reverted the case
to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, which upheld its ear-
lier ruling in favor of the teach-
ers’ union.
“It’s extremely likely that
opponents of mandatory fees
are going to prevail this time,”
Cunningham-Parmeter said.
“All of the tea leaves point to
Justice Gorsuch providing the
fi fth vote to invalidate these …
mandatory fees.”
Public-sector union offi cials
refer to mandatory fees as “fair
share” fees because the money
pays for the cost of collective
bargaining and pursuing griev-
ances. Without mandatory fees,
workers who decline to join the
union would still reap the bene-
fi ts of the union without paying
any of the cost.
John Larson, executive
director of the Oregon Educa-
tion Association , said he sees
the case as an attack on workers’
rights, but added that the success
of unions ultimately depends on
“how well can show them the
value of our collective voice.”
In the 1977 case, Abood v.
Detroit Board of Education,
the Supreme Court held that
public employees could be
forced to pay fees for a union’s
representational work, but
could not be required to pay
for political activity.
The Janus complaint con-
tends that all public sector col-
lective bargaining activities
are inherently political and
hence, mandatory fees amount
to
government-compelled
speech in violation of the First
Amendment, according to the
Olympia, Washington-based
Freedom Foundation, which
has supported other right-to-
work efforts.
Oregon’s
public-sector
workers are under no obliga-
tion to join a union, but they
often have to take action to opt
out of paying full dues in favor
of paying lower “fair share”
fees, Cunningham-Parmeter
said. While dues might cover
the cost of some of the union’s
political activities, “fair share”
fees are restricted to paying for
collective bargaining, griev-
ances and other non-political
services, the law professor said.
Depending on the contract,
some workers who decline
to join the union still have
to pay full dues upfront and
then apply for a rebate for the
amount of the dues that would
have gone toward the union’s
political activities.
First county needle exchange set
The Daily Astorian
A pilot needle exchange program will hold
its fi rst two events Thursday.
Two Clatsop County Health Department
staff members and another volunteer will con-
duct the exchanges at two locations. The fi rst
will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the cor-
ner of 16th Street and Marine Drive, and the
other from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Knappa
Fire District at 43114 Hillcrest Loop.
Exchanges will be conducted from a green
Dodge van. Operations will be shut down if
drug use or paraphernalia is spotted, according
to a county press release.
All exchanges will be on a one-for-one
basis, though the county may hand out multi-
ple syringes in the future depending on the case.
Those who participate must bring used
syringes in containers in order to prevent others
from being accidentally stuck. Sharps contain-
ers also will be handed out.
The program, approved in August by the
county Board of Commissioners, is funded
through a $50,000 donation from the Friends of
Columbia Community Health.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
MONDAY
Warrenton Community
Library Board, 5:15 p.m.,
emergency meeting on library
levy, City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave.
Astoria City Council, 7 p.m.,
City Hall, 1095 Duane St.
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy,
sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow fl urries,
sn-snow, i-ice.
TUESDAY
Community and Senior
Center Commission, 10:30
a.m., 1225 Avenue A., Sea-
side.
Seaside Library Board, 4:30
p.m., 1131 Broadway, Seaside.
Miles Crossing Sanitary
Sewer District Board, 6
p.m., 34583 U.S. Highway 101
Business.
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989
Broadway.
Saturday’s Powerball: 8-12-
25-41-64, Powerball: 15
Estimated jackpot: $94 million
Friday’s Pick 4:
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4 p.m.: 9268
7 p.m.: 8561
10 p.m.: 3635
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Estimated jackpot: $22,000
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Sunday’s Match 4: 06-08-
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Saturday’s Daily Game: 6-4-5
Saturday’s Hit 5: 08-11-29-
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Estimated jackpot: $190,000
Saturday’s Keno: 01-04-06-
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50-53-54-60-61-62-66-74
Saturday’s Lotto: 10-28-32-
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Estimated jackpot: $4.4
million
Saturday’s Match 4: 16-17-
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Friday’s Daily Game: 4-3-1
Friday’s Keno: 06-12-15-17-
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Friday’s Match 4: 16-17-18-23
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The Daily Astorian
Established July 1, 1873
(USPS 035-000)
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