This week, the nonpartisan Oregon Legislative Revenue Office (LRO) released a report to the House and Senate Revenue Committees highlighting the devastating effects that Initiative Petition 28 (IP28)  would have on the Oregon economy. Note it has become Measure 97 (M97).

The report is packed with information illustrating how damaging and costly this proposal would be for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as Oregon consumers. A few of the LRO’s findings include:

  1. The measure would cost Oregonians more than $6 billion per biennium. It was previously estimated that M97/ IP28 would generate about $5 billion. Today’s report estimates the measure would increase taxes in Oregon by more than $6 billion per biennium, by far the largest tax increase in Oregon history.
  2. The impact on the Oregon economy would be staggering. The report estimates that more than 38,000 private sector jobs would be lost as a result of this measure. The report states, “Our economic simulation shows that if M97/IP28 becomes law it will dampen income, employment and population growth over the next 5 years.”
  3. The report confirms that M97/IP28 would especially hurt lower-income Oregonians. The LRO report confirms that most of the money raised by M97/IP28, if passed, would come out of the pockets of Oregon consumers, as well as Oregon small and medium-sized businesses, in the form of higher prices for almost everything we buy. “The impact of M97/IP28 on consumer prices means that the marginal impact of the tax will be regressive,” the report states. According to the report, Oregonians hit hardest by the tax would be those earning less than $21,000 a year.

You can read articles by The Register-Guard, The Portland Tribune, and The Oregonian discussing the harmful effects found in the LRO report.

You can view the LRO PowerPoint presentation here.

You can view the LRO report here.

M97/IP28 Background & Campaign

Oregonians should be very concerned about Initiative Petition 28 (IP28) – the proposed $6 billion tax increase headed for the November ballot. IP28 would create huge new taxes on many products sold in Oregon, as well as on services provided by Oregon employers, even if those services are sold around the world.

Here’s the problem. Despite misleading claims by its sponsors, much of the $6 billion cost of M97/IP28 would be passed on to Oregon consumers in the form of higher prices for nearly everything they buy – with no exemptions for food, medicine, clothing, utilities, insurance and even medical care.

M97/IP28 proposes a new 2.5% tax on the total Oregon sales – not profits – of businesses organized as C-Corps that generate $25 million or more in sales. In fact, businesses would be required to pay the new tax whether they make a profit or not.

It’s the worst kind of tax on sales because it can be added at each step in the production process – a “tax on a tax” – cascading into much higher prices for items Oregonians buy every day. By the time an Oregon product goes from a producer to a distributor and then to a retailer in the state, it may be taxed multiple times before finally reaching the consumer, making Oregon products more expensive and Oregon companies less competitive.

The proponents of this massive tax increase can’t even guarantee where the $6 billion will be spent. The only guarantee in M97/IP28 is higher costs for Oregon products and services, as well as damaging economic impacts that could threaten the recent economic improvements that we have worked so hard to achieve.

Here’s where you come in.  Defeat The Tax On Oregon Sales is the coalition of hundreds of Oregon consumers, taxpayers, small and medium-sized businesses, associations and organizations that have come together to oppose this tax proposal.

Join the coalition to defeat M/97IP28 and help stop this costly, damaging and unprecedented $6 billion tax increase.

Visit the website, DefeatTheTaxOnOregonSales.com where you can sign up to add your name and your business’s name to the coalition, donate to the campaign, sign up for email communication and keep in touch with coalition news and updates.

We need your help to fight the biggest tax increase proposed in Oregon’s history. If you would like more information about the campaign to oppose M97/IP28 or want to get involved in other ways, please contact the campaign at info@ DefeatTheTaxOnOregonSales.com.