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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, APRIL 9, 2018
Brown to sign controversial tax bill
Governor wants
tax break in
special session
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Gov. Kate
Brown says she’ll sign a con-
troversial business tax bill into
law and wants to convene a
special session of the Legis-
lature to extend a tax break to
sole proprietorships.
Oregon automatically con-
forms to the federal tax code
unless state lawmakers pass
legislation specifically to mod-
ify it. That’s what lawmakers
did with Senate Bill 1528. The
legislation prevented own-
ers of so-called pass-through
businesses — sole proprietor-
ships, partnership, limited lia-
bility corporations and S-cor-
porations — from deducting
up to 20 percent of their busi-
ness income from their 2018
state tax return. The deduction
was created by the recent fed-
eral tax overhaul.
Brown wants lawmakers to
convene to tweak Oregon law
so that owners of sole propri-
etorships can receive special
tax rates offered to other pass
throughs since 2013.
Brown contends that mak-
ing those changes and disal-
lowing the 20 percent deduc-
tion would make the tax
system for small business
more equitable.
“Through my review and
analysis it has become appar-
ent that Oregon’s existing pre-
ferred rate structure for pass-
through entities, which is
relatively new, is not perfect
and has some inequities in it,”
Brown, a Democrat running
for re-election, wrote in a bill
signing letter Friday to Secre-
tary of State Dennis Richard-
son. “ … It is clear to me that
sole proprietors ought to be
allowed to participate in this
preferred rate structure.”
Lawmakers passed the bill
in the last days of the recent
short session to blunt the
effects of the federal tax over-
haul on Oregon’s revenues.
It is expected to raise $244
million in the two-year bud-
get cycle, which concludes in
mid-2019.
Many Republicans in the
Legislature and some mem-
Sailboat built by Oregon students
continues journey to Japan
Associated Press
SITKA, Alaska — A min-
iature sailboat built by Scap-
poose sixth-graders has been
put back out to sea to con-
tinue its voyage to Japan after
running aground near Sitka,
Alaska.
An Alaska fisherman dis-
covered the boat in late Febru-
ary and reached out to teach-
ers at Sitka schools, leading
to students at Blatchley Mid-
dle School to take part in the
international project, the Daily
Sitka Sentinel reported.
Students at Otto Peterson
Elementary School in Scap-
poose had launched the boat
in December as part of an edu-
cational project sponsored by
the Columbia River Maritime
Museum.
The Oregon students built
10 fiberglass vessels equipped
with sails and GPS tracking
devices. Half of the 5-foot
boats were flown to Japan to
three partner schools in the
Aomori Prefecture where the
vessels were deployed.
The project aims to teach
students in both countries
about ocean currents and dif-
ferent cultures as the boats sail
across the Pacific Ocean.
After learning of the boat,
Sitka science teacher Stacy
Golden said she jumped at the
opportunity to have her class
participate. The education
director of the Columbia River
Maritime Museum then flew to
Sitka to explain the project to
the students and help ready the
boat for its next voyage.
Golden said the Sitka stu-
dents dried out the boat,
patched the keel and made
some aesthetic upgrades.
The boat was launched from
Alaska on Wednesday and is
now at the mercy of the wind
and ocean currents to reach its
destination.
“All of the sudden, they
feel like they’re part of some-
thing bigger,” Golden said of
her students.
Ferry passenger dies in Columbia River
Clatskanie Chief
A Coast Guard spokes-
person has confirmed that a
woman died after she fell off a
ferry into the Columbia River
on Friday night.
The spokesperson said
Coast Guard crews pulled the
woman’s body from the river
after it was spotted from the
ferry. The woman’s identity
was not released to the public.
The Coast Guard spokes-
person said before she died
the woman was aboard the
ferry Oscar B. that travels
between Westport and Puget
Island in Washington state.
Coast Guard units responded
at around 9:30 p.m.
The woman’s death was
“by all accounts a suicide,”
a Coast Guard spokesper-
son told The Daily News of
Longview, Washington, on
Saturday.
The woman’s body was
turned over to Ocean View
Mortuary in Astoria.
bers of the business commu-
nity had been vocal about
their opposition to the bill and
called on the governor to veto
it.
In a press conference Fri-
day, Brown noted that those
business owners already
receive special rates from the
state and will be able to use
the deductions on their fed-
eral returns. Brown said sign-
ing the bill “prevents a third
tax break at the expense of our
schools, our children and our
seniors.”
Senate Republican Leader
Jackie Winters, of Salem,
disagreed, saying in a state-
ment after Friday’s announce-
ment that “the right thing to
do would be to veto this par-
tisan tax increase on small
business.”
“Startups, mom and pop
shops, and young entrepre-
neurs are doing great things
for Oregon, but the major-
ity party insists on passing an
unfair tax increase that will sti-
fle their growth, and harm the
very Oregonians we should be
helping,” Winters said. “There
is no budgetary need to raise
taxes on small businesses.”
The Capital Bureau is a
collaboration between EO
Media Group and Pamplin
Media Group.
A pril 10 th
Executive Artistic Director
Kirk Mouser
A Columbia Forum Presentation
Kirk Mouser is the founder and executive artistic director of
Stumptown Stages, a not-for-profit professional musical theater
company in residence at the Portland’s Centers for the Arts.
Previously he served as the interim trust manager at the Oregon
Cultural Trust where he implemented the “Days of Culture,”
and worked for the City of Gresham’s Economic Development
Department where he oversaw the development and fundraising
efforts for the Center for the Arts Plaza.
Prior to returning to his hometown of Portland, Kirk spent twenty
years in New York City where he served as the associate managing
director of Luna Stage Company, a professional regional theatre in Montclair, New Jersey.
As an actor, Kirk credits include the Broadway/national tours of Les Miserables, Forbidden
Broadway, Chess, The Phantom of the Opera and Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. He has also
co-starred in the Hollywood feature film “Untraceable,” and TNT’s “Leverage.”
Kirk currently serves on the Arts Alliance Foundation, Tourism Development Council and
artPAC board. He received his BS in Business from Warner Pacific College, and his MBA at
Marylhurst University.
TO ATTEND:
LIMI
SEA TED
RESE TING
For Members: Dinner & Lecture: $25 each; Lecture only: no charge
VE O
SPAC R
U
E TO Y
DAY! R
For Non-Members: Dinner & Lecture: $35 each; Lecture only: $15 ea.
Appetizers will be available at 6 p.m. • Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.
The speaker will begin after the dinner service is complete and non-dinner
members and guests of the audience take their seats.
Forum to be held at the CMH Community Center at 2021 Exchange St., Astoria.
ColumbiaForum
FOR RESERVATIONS OR TO JOIN COLUMBIA FORUM CONTACT:
Holly Larkins at 503.325.3211 ext. 227 or hlarkins@dailyastorian.com by April 9, 2018
Columbia Forum is sponsored by:
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Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa