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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2018)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018 Tax hikes likely needed to fund Brown’s budget A gap of $2.6 billion By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — Thousands of Oregonians could see more money taken out of their pay- checks and companies would be writing bigger checks to fund Gov. Kate Brown’s pro- posed budget and revamp the state’s education system. Brown needs to find $2.6 billion more than is already being paid in state taxes to cover her proposals for the state’s next two-year budget. It’s likely much of that sum would come from corporate or personal income tax increases. Currently, individual tax- payers are projected to pay $19 billion in state income taxes the next two years. And corporations are projected to pay another $1.1 billion. The governor for the most part has been quiet about where she’s going to get the new money. She has proposed increasing a variety of taxes other than income taxes, but that gives her about one-third of what she needs to cover her proposed spending. The details on who would pay are yet to come. “The governor will be Anna Reed/Statesman Journal Gov. Kate Brown needs more revenue to balance her pro- posed state budget. engaged in working with those who will be proposing ideas, which includes the business community, Legislature and other stakeholders across the state,” said Chris Pair, Brown’s communications director. “It’s going to be a chal- lenge,” the governor said last week when she announced her budget plan. “I don’t think it’s going to be easy, but I do think it’s work worth doing and attempting to do.” State House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said she wants to raise “sustainable” revenue for the education plan through corporate or personal income taxes. “If we’re going to have the resources we need, you have to look at the big things,” Kotek said. Pushing tax increases through the Legislature could technically be easier for Dem- ocrats, who now have a super- majority of votes in the House and Senate. Kotek said that’s no guar- antee that tax changes would pass easily. Critics already are pushing back on the idea that Orego- nians need to be taxed more. State House Republi- can Leader Carl Wilson, of Grants Pass, called the gover- nor’s budget a “call to drasti- cally increase taxes on every- day Oregonians.” He noted the state already is forecast to take in an extra $1 billion in the next biennium without changing tax rates. The governor’s move to take another $2 billion is a chal- lenge, he said. “It is a challenge to the wal- lets and pocketbooks of hard- working Oregonians,” Wilson said. Jason Williams, the exec- utive director of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon, also was critical. “No amount of tax reve- nues” could fix what he called a “leaky” budget. While he said that the gov- ernor’s plan to hire more inter- nal auditors could help iden- tify government waste, that would only be effective if the state cut wasteful programs. The state has made minor changes to income taxes in recent years. In 2017, these included a new payroll tax to help pay for transportation projects, and changes to how certain corpo- rations apportion income — simply put, how they figure out what they owe to Oregon when they pay their taxes. Brown’s budget already includes $769 million in increased taxes, largely the result of a work group fig- uring out how to cover the state’s $623 million bill the next biennium to cover Med- icaid, the government health care program for the poor By DIRK VANDERHART Oregon Public Broadcasting Some of the largest compa- nies operating in Oregon could see a tax increase under a pro- posal being quietly put forward by Gov. Kate Brown. Included in the two-year bal- anced budget Brown unveiled last week is a set of changes to the state’s corporate minimum tax, which sets a floor on taxes paid by companies with sales in Oregon. Under the tax’s current structure, businesses pay a minimum of between $150 and $100,000, depending on their Oregon sales. (If they owe more under Oregon’s separate corporate income tax structure, they pay that higher amount instead.) Brown’s proposal adds five new steps to the minimum tax, raising taxes for companies with more than $200 million in Ore- gon sales. For instance, com- panies with between $400 mil- lion and $600 million in sales would pay $400,000 under the minimum tax, instead of $100,000 they’d pay under the current structure. At the upper- most tier, companies with sales of $1 billion or more would be required to pay $1 million instead of $100,000. The idea would need buy in from the Legislature to move forward, but it’s another glimpse at strategies Brown — newly re-elected and enjoying Democratic supermajorities in both legislative chambers — is embracing as she pushes for bil- lions in new money for schools and health care in coming years. And, like a proposed increase in taxes on liquor, it’s an idea Brown didn’t highlight when she presented her budget last week. The change is noted only in passing in her nearly 500-page budget document. Still, Brown’s not the only one pushing a change in what businesses pay. “Raising the corporate min- imum is on everyone’s radar screen,” said state Sen. Mark Hass, D-Beaverton, who chairs the Senate Finance and Reve- nue Committee. “There’s three or four different ways to look at reforming the way businesses are taxed here, and at the same time lowering some of the load of the personal income tax.” Hass also serves on the Joint Committee for Student Success, a bipartisan group of lawmakers who’ve been vis- iting school districts around the state, and will float ideas to sharply increase education funding next year. Hass says the committee will consider changes to the minimum tax as part of that process. He hadn’t seen Brown’s proposal when reached last week. Minimum taxes are used a lot in Oregon — nearly 70 per- cent of Oregon C corporations paid the minimum tax in 2015 — but according to Brown’s budget, the proposed change would result in a relatively modest $31.3 million increase next biennium. That’s about 3 percent of corporate taxes. Ideas for altering the min- imum tax structure are noth- ing new. Two years ago, Bal- lot Measure 97 would have changed the tax to raise $3 bil- lion in new revenue a year — a far cry from what Brown has suggested. Measure 97 failed, but the underlying notion remains popular among progressive groups. Juan Carlos Ordonez, a spokesman for the Oregon Center for Public Policy, said changes to the corporate tax structure “need to be at the center of the conversation in terms of revenue reform.” It’s “great to see the gover- nor propose raising the corpo- rate minimum,” Ordonez said. “But we need a much bigger increase in order to reinvigo- rate the corporate income tax.” Under the $23.6 billion PROFESSIONAL Q: Any inexpensive gift ideas? LEO FINZI Astoria’s Best.com We stock 1000’s of parts, cables, accessories, etc. for phones, TVs, Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 11-4 computers, and Astoria, OR tablets. 503-325-2300 Saturday, December 8th • 10 am-5 pm Admission: 2 non-perishable food items Windows Wireless Display Adapter - Show anything from your Windows laptop (dvds, family movies, pictures, Netflix, etc.) on your big screen TV, $49.99. Gift certificates in any denomination. 10% off. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah! Q: What are dental sealants, who should get them and how long do they last? JEFFREY M. LEINASSAR DMD, FAGD sealants are a clear A: Dental coating place in the deep grooves 503/325-0310 1414 MARINE DRIVE, ASTORIA www.smileastoria.com of teeth, protecting them from food and bacteria that can be hard to remove with brushing. We recommend having your child’s permanent molars sealed as soon as they are fully erupted. You can expect sealants to last upwards of 10-15 years and are a safe, inexpensive way to help ensure your child’s oral health. Call us today to make your appointment. Astoria Elks Lodge 453 11th Street, Astoria Christmas Crafts the Google Chrome browser on your big screen TV, $35. New and refurbished laptop and desktop computers, $99.99 & up. spending plan the governor released last week, corporate taxes account for 4 percent of revenues. Personal income taxes make up 80 percent. Winter Craft Fair mouse, $24.99. A: Wireless Chromecast - Show anything from Wireless keyboard & mouse combo, $39.99. 10TH STREET Move needs approval by Legislature nity together to find an alterna- tive way to pay for health care costs, instead of that cost shift- ing to the general fund,” said George Naughton, the state’s chief financial officer. Other minor tax increases included in the budget includ- ing a higher tax on hard liquor and higher tax rates for small business owners. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration of EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group and Salem Reporter. Consult a ASTORIA TRANSIT CENTER Brown wants to boost state business tax and disabled. Health care is costing the state more money — not because the care itself is get- ting more expensive, but because the federal govern- ment is covering less of the bill than it used to. A mix of tobacco and busi- ness taxes would cover the Medicaid cost, state officials said. “The governor has balanced the budget by, in essence, get- ting the health care commu- Q: Do you think that Hughes-Ransom May bring back the tradition of a Christmas service to honor all those who have died in the current calendar year? this was a time honored A: While tradition the declining interest & lack of participation has been the primary reason John R. Alcantara - Funeral Director for us to re-evaluate how our efforts best serve the community. We decided to focus our efforts on participating in worthwhile causes that make a net positive difference for families in our community. We are proud to be inaugural hosts of The Wishing Tree Program by both our Astoria & Seaside mortuaries serving as collection sites for this annual endeavor that benefits local families here in Clatsop County. Bring in your unwrapped gift(s) and/or non-perishible food donation(s) Astoria: 576 12th St. to place under the tree or pick a “bell” from the 503.325.2535 tree and shop for a specific child in need. They Seaside: 220 N. Holladay can be dropped off during business hours 9:00 503.738.6622 www.hughes-ransom.com am-5:00 pm Mon -Fri until Fri Dec 14th. Hughes- Ransom Mortuary Q: Muscle spasms can be a thing of the past. horses in the leg,facial tics A: Charlie and back spasms are all deficiency ASTORIA CHIROPRACTIC Barry Sears, D.C. 503-325-3311 2935 Marine Drive Astoria, Oregon symptoms — muscles are irritated and working too hard — they don’t have the nutrients they need. Muscles need calcium, magnesium and Vitamin D taken together. Seventy-six percent of Americans are deficient in those nutrients. People may be OK until an injury when the increased activity in the hurt area causes the deficiency symptoms. It is easy and quick to correct. Time of day and dosage are important and need to be adjusted until the spasms stop. If you need help figuring this out, call Dr. Sears. Q: Can I change Steve Putman Medicare Products 503-440-1076 Licensed in Oregon and Washington putmanagency@gmail.com my Medicare supplement company if I have health issues? A: The Oregon Birthday rule allows for changing companies in a narrow window around your birthday. There are very specific rules so call for more details.
