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Legislative leaders joined Gov. Tina Kotek this week in opposing a November ballot measure that promises to take from rich corporations and give to all Oregonians.
Ballot Measure 118, also called the Oregon Rebate, would raise taxes on large corporations by imposing a tax of 3% on gross revenues. That new tax money, close to $7 billion a year, according to the most recent analysis by the Legislative Revenue Office, would be distributed to every Oregonian, regardless of need. That means a newborn baby would get a check, as would Nike co-founder Phil Knight, whose net worth is about $35 billion. Companies with more than $25 million of in-state sales would pay the new, higher tax.
WHAT’S NEW? When proponents rolled out the measure and gathered signatures to qualify for the ballot, they told voters the yearly payment would be about $750. That figure came from estimates made six years ago, when proponents started work on the measure, chief petitioner Antonio Gisbert told WW last week. But after the measure qualified, new estimates by the revenue office led the campaign to adopt a new figure: $1,600 per Oregonian.
“It’s not changing our message or the value proposition,” Gisbert says. “When we talk to voters we try to give people the best possible information. [The larger check] will provide more economic stimulus and greater poverty reduction.”
WHO CARES? Pro-business lobbying group Oregon Business & Industry has fought the measure since it was proposed, arguing that Oregon already taxes corporations on both profits and gross sales, one of only two states to do so. Measure 118 would raise already-high taxes and scare employers considering whether to expand or move here, OBI says. Even Tax Fairness Oregon, a watchdog group that often advocates for higher taxes on corporations and supports universal basic income (giving everybody a check to offset income inequality) calls Measure 118 a “hot mess.”
In response to questions sent individually, the top four Democratic lawmakers in Salem, Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego), Senate Majority Leader Kathleen Taylor (D-Portland), House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-Eugene), and House Majority Leader Ben Bowman (D-Tigard), issued a joint statement panning the measure.
“Measure 118 would be a tremendous strain on our state resources, including a potential impact of more than $2.8 billion on state resources and require deep cuts to important front-line services, like health care and public safety,” the lawmakers said. “Worse, nonpartisan research also indicates that Measure 118 would increase prices for consumer goods and slow Oregon’s job growth.”
House Minority Leader Jeff Helfrich (R-Hood River) noted that Measure 118 has prompted a bipartisan backlash. “It is a tax so bad that even prominent Democrats stand with Republicans in rejecting it,” Helfrich says. His counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles) points to the fact that almost all the money for signature gathering came from proponents in California. “Measure 118 is another out-of-state and dangerous experiment that doesn’t align with the needs of Oregonians,” Bonham said.
WHAT’S NEXT? Last week, the Oregon Education Association’s board voted to oppose Measure 118, in a decision that has not yet been publicly announced. Three other leading labor unions—the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union, and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555—are expected to weigh in soon. Usually, unions favor higher taxes on corporations and the redistribution of wealth. But the unified “no” position among Democratic lawmakers—and Gov. Kotek—suggest that organized labor is unlikely to support the measure.