At the beginning of the 20th century, Oregon pioneered direct democracy as the first state to institute the initiative, the referendum, the recall, and the popular election of U.S. senators.

More recently, Oregon has continued to go where no state has gone before.  Oregon passed the nation's first limited-growth law in the 1970s, and became the first state in 1994 & again in 1997 to legalize physician-assisted suicide.
The state's congressional delegation boasts David Wu, the first Chinese-American member of the House of Representatives,

Four years ago, Oregon voters participated in the first-ever U.S. presidential election in which the balloting was conducted entirely by mail. (To make balloting more convenient, Oregon voted in 1998 to conduct all of its elections by mail.

What a great place to live, a state where progressive ideas are born and thrive; I ask you when is Oregon going to rid its self from the kicker law that solely benefits corporations?

What Is A Kicker Law?

A kicker law is where a state economist makes revenue predictions for a two-year period, and the legislature approves spending based on that prediction. If revenues end up 2% above prediction, the state refunds the tax collected.

WHERE DOES THE MAJORITY OF THE REFUNDED MONEY GO?

Two thirds (2/3) of the corporate kicker money goes to companies that are head quartered out side of Oregon. Oregonians have not noticed that Oregon is collecting less tax revenues than it use to  colledct from its biggest corporations, and are giving back monies to these same greedy corporations.
Oregon will give a tax credit to corporations of approximately $205 million, while individuals will receive $461 million. Some say that these corporations deserve these breaks and if the individual gets a break so should these corporations. I disagree with those of this thinking, the working men/women of this state pay well above their share of taxes, since they do not receive the same tax breaks that are given to corporations,  Working people surely deserve the kicker advantage. The average kicker refund to the Oregon worker is approximately $155; the typical (median) taxpayer will receive approximately $77.

In 1973, corporations paid 18.5 percent of the income tax collected in Oregon. Today they pay less than 5 %. If corporations paid the same share today as they did in the 70's the State of Oregon would have $900 million a year to spend on much needed areas.   
To date Oregon law allows 49 income tax breaks for corporations, two thirds of Oregon corporations pay ONLY $10.00 a year in income taxes.
How CAN This BE?

Oregon's corporate tax structure only applies to profit; if a company can show that its expenses exceed revenues they pay only $10.00 per year, even though they may have hundreds of millions of dollars in income. If Oregon followed the same principles that the State of Washington does by taxing gross receipts, there would be NO shortage of funds to run the services that the public wants in Oregon.               

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