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Oregon Farmers Oppose Proposed Corporate Tax Increase

Joe Wolf
/
Flickr - http://tinyurl.com/z8o86qr

The Joint Committee on Tax Reform hosted a public hearing in Salem Tuesday morning on a plan that aims to help address the state’s $1.4 billion budget gap.

The plan would raise corporate income taxes in 2019 based on gross receipts on sales above $3 million each year. The bill would impose a temporary tax increase until 2019.

The system would be tiered, with taxes on agricultural businesses at the lowest level of 0.15 percent.



Still, Oregon Farm Bureau Federation Director of State Public Policy Jenny Dresler said the agriculture industry would be disproportionately harmed by the proposal. 



“Our members have made it clear that they are opposed to any tax mechanism that separates the obligation to pay from the ability to pay,” she said. “Nobody should be required an income related-tax when there is no net income.”





But the majority of the morning testimony was in favor of the proposal’s potential to increase funding for education and essential public services.

Mark Jackson is the co-founder and executive Director of Reap, Incorporated—a Portland based multicultural youth outreach organization. 



“According to research by ECONorthwest, if the achievement gap of Oregon’s adult population had been eliminated a decade ago, Oregon’s economic activity would have been $1.9 billion higher than 2013,” Jackson said.



The committee will hold a second public hearing on the plan Monday evening.

Copyright 2017 Northwest News Network

Emily Schwing started stuffing envelopes for KUER FM90 in Salt Lake City, and something that was meant to be a volunteer position turned into a multi-year summer internship. After developing her own show for Carleton Collegeââââ
Emily Schwing
Emily Schwing comes to the Inland Northwest by way of Alaska, where she covered social and environmental issues with an Arctic spin as well as natural resource development, wildlife management and Alaska Native issues for nearly a decade. Her work has been heard on National Public Radio’s programs like “Morning Edition” and “All things Considered.” She has also filed for Public Radio International’s “The World,” American Public Media’s “Marketplace,” and various programs produced by the BBC and the CBC. She has also filed stories for Scientific American, Al Jazeera America and Arctic Deeply.