Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, April 15, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Unemployment
increases in
Union County
But jobless rates drop
statewide, as well as in
Wallowa, Baker counties
The Observer
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Union County sheriff’s deputy Tony Humphries cleans his police vehicle on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, at the Scrub It Up Car Wash, Laundromat, Pet Wash in Union.
Scrub It Up cleans up nice
See, Jobless/Page 2B
Onion
marketing
season
wraps up
3-in-1 wash center in
Union makes upgrades
By DICK MASON
The Observer
UNION — A revamped car
wash, laundromat and pet wash
center is making a splash in
downtown Union.
Brian and Day Combs, the
owners of Scrub It Up Car
Wash, Laundromat, Pet Wash
recently finished making
upgrades and additions to their
business at 266 E. Beakman St.
The upgrades make cleaning
clothing, vehicles and pets
almost as easy as reaching for
a bottle of fabric softener or
removing a lint tray from a
dryer.
“We have wanted to do
this since we bought it (Scrub
It Up) two years ago,” Day
Combs said of the upgrades
and additions.
The upgrades were com-
pleted about a week ago and
the public’s response has been
encouraging.
“We have been getting a lot
of great comments on our com-
ment wall and our Facebook
page,” Combs said.
The center’s new additions
include a double stack dryer
and a front load washer in the
laundromat. This boosts the
number of dryers Scrub It Up
has to five and the number of
washing machines to 10 — all
to accommodate the growing
number of people using the
laundromat.
“We have been getting a lot
of people,” Combs said.
People come in day and
night to Scrub It Up for it is
open 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
It is now a more inviting
place to come at night after
LED lights were added in the
SALEM — Oregon’s unem-
ployment rate edged down in
March. But Union County’s unem-
ployment rate rose while neigh-
boring Wallowa and Baker coun-
ties saw their rates continue to
decline.
Union County’s unemploy-
ment rate hit 7.1%, an increase of
1.1% from February, according to
the latest data from the Oregon
Employment Department. The
county had 876 job seekers in
March, 138 more than the month
before. The county’s nonfarm pay-
roll stands at 9,890, an increase of
70 jobs from February.
Baker County’s unemploy-
ment rate ticked down from 5.7%
in February to 5.6% in March, the
Oregon Employment Department
reported. Baker County has 414
unemployed, nine fewer than last
month, and 5,230 in nonfarm work,
a drop of 20 from last month.
Owyhee Produce CEO
says prices at or slightly
below five-year average
By BRAD CARLSON
Capital Press
Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Coin-operated laundry machines at Scrub It Up Car Wash, Laundromat, Pet Wash in Union stand ready for use Tuesday, April 13,
2021. Scrub It Up’s owners recently completed upgrades at the business.
laundromat and the car wash
bays.
“It is a lot brighter now,”
Combs said.
New paint and color
throughout the facility also
liven up Scrub It Up’s look.
The center’s exterior hues now
are red, gray and black; its
interior is varying shades of
yellow and its pet wash station
colors are green and lavender.
A new addition to the car
wash is a vending machine
offering air fresheners and
cleaning supplies for vehicles.
Upgrades also have been
made to the dog wash station,
where new plumbing equip-
ment boosts water pressure for
the sprayer, and the hair dryer
has been improved so it now
puts out air faster, Combs said.
New features at the pet wash
station also include a coconut
shampoo for dogs.
“It helps loosen the under-
coat so that dogs can shed
faster,” Combs said.
Scrub It Up’s pet wash sta-
tion is one of the few in this
region.
“We don’t know of any other
in Union, Wallowa or Baker
counties,” Combs said, noting
some people come from Baker
and Wallowa counties to use
the pet wash.
The station primarily serves
dogs, but other pets also make
appearances.
“Boys and girls in 4-H
sometimes bring in their sheep,
pigs and goats,” Combs said.
Business at Scrub It Up
tends to be steady year-round,
Combs said. The Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion’s move some years ago to
use salt on winter roads has
boosted winter business at the
car wash to prevent the sub-
stance from corroding vehicles.
Combs said Scrub It Up pro-
vides a desalting solution in
its bays because of ODOT’s
decision.
Combs said she and her hus-
band enjoy operating their
business.
“We get to meet such a
variety of people,” she said.
And their customers are
considerate, she said, and do
a great job of helping to keep
Scrub It Up clean.
Additional information
is available at Scrub It Up’s
Facebook page.
The hitch-free conclusion
of the onion marketing season
pleased Snake River Produce
General Manager Kay Riley
almost as much as the volume
gain over last year.
“It finished April 1. … It was
surprisingly better than antic-
ipated,” Riley said. “This year
we were able to get everything
marketed, so we
were very happy
about that.”
Onion pack-
er-shippers in south-
eastern Oregon and
southwestern Idaho
Riley
are wrapping up a
2020-21 marketing season that
saw continued impacts from
COVID-19. The region, home to
more than two dozen fresh-pack
sheds, produces 40-45% of U.S.
onions consumed from Sep-
tember through March.
Riley said Snake River’s
shipment volume increased
slightly from a year ago, when
the crop was smaller and
demand plunged in the second
half of March as coronavirus
See, Onions/Page 2B
Even with pretax profits, many big companies pay zero U.S. tax
By STAN CHOE and KEN SWEET
AP Business Writers
NEW YORK — Just as Pres-
ident Joe Biden is pushing to
raise taxes on companies to help
pay for his infrastructure plan, a
report from a Washington policy
group is highlighting how many
firms pay zero despite making big
pretax profits.
More than 50 of the largest
U.S. companies paid nothing in
federal income taxes last year,
with many getting rebates, even
though they reported almost $40.5
billion in pretax profits as a group,
according to the Institute on Tax-
ation and Economic Policy. The
group believes the tax system
needs to raise more tax revenue.
The 55 companies named in
the report issued April 2 cross
many industries, from agricul-
ture to high tech, and they include
such big names as Nike and Duke
Energy. The report says the com-
panies took advantage of breaks
that were preserved or expanded
under President Donald Trump’s
2017 overhaul of the tax code,
as well as the economic rescue
package that Washington passed
last spring.
Under the 2017 tax cut, the rate
on corporate profits is 21%. But
companies can use many tools
to avoid taxes, such as writing
off expenses related to the stock
options they give their CEOs and
other executives.
Companies can also use a suite
of available tax credits by making
investments that the U.S. govern-
ment is trying to encourage, sim-
ilar to how individuals can get tax
breaks for saving in a retirement
fund or making their home more
energy efficient.
At Duke Energy, one of the
nation’s largest utility owners, the
company recorded $110 million
in tax credits last year for pro-
ducing renewable energy through
wind facilities, for example.
That and other credits helped the
Charlotte, North Carolina-based
company net a $281 million
rebate for federal income taxes
last year, after reporting $826
million in pretax U.S. income
from continuing operations.
See, Taxes/Page 2B
J. David Ake/Associated Press, File
This April 13, 2014, photo shows the Internal Revenue Service headquarters building in
Washington, D.C. More than 50 of the largest U.S. companies paid nothing in federal in-
come taxes in 2020 even though they reported big pretax profits as a group, according
to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which believes the tax system needs to
raise more revenue.