August 13, 2009
Oregonian Highlights Tax Foundation State Business Tax Climate Index
"Businesses taxed more, people still taxed most in Oregon"
By Brent Walth and Bill Graves
Oregon businesses will continue to enjoy one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation even after the Legislature voted last week to raise their taxes.
For more than three decades, lawmakers have been whittling away at businesses' tax burden, once shared equally with individuals. As a result, individuals now carry nearly two-thirds of the state and local tax burden.
That amount won't change in the next two years in spite of House and Senate votes last week to raise income taxes on wealthy individuals by $472 million and on businesses by $261 million. ...
The tax burden on business in Oregon is one of the lowest in the nation. Oregon businesses enjoy the ninth-best business tax climate in the country, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C.
