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Oregon Trucking Associations, Inc.
Oregon Truck Dispatch
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
The Facts About Measure 97
the $6 Billion Tax on Oregon Sales
Measure 97 (M97), a proposed new $6 billion tax on Oregon sales, will be
on the November 2016 statewide ballot. It is the largest tax increase in
Oregon history.
M97 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,
M97 would tax sales and not profits,
meaning businesses
would be required to pay the new tax whether they have a large profit,
small profit, or
no profit at all.
Other businesses selling the same
products and making as much or more money are exempted just because
they’re set up as S-Corps or B-Corps, although it would be the next
natural step to expand this tax to this group if M97 is approved by voters.
Carriers would pay this tax in our industry in the form of higher costs for
fuel, parts, insurance, and many other goods and services. M97 is the
worst kind of tax on sales because it can be added at each step in the
supply chain process. 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.
A study by the nonpartisan Oregon Legislative Revenue Office (LRO)
concluded that about two-thirds of the tax M97 would impose would end
up being paid by Oregon consumers,
costing the average Oregon
household more than $600 every year.
The LRO also estimates passage of M97 would result in
the loss of more
than 38,000 private sector jobs,
impacting Oregon’s overall economy,
working families, small businesses and multiple industries.
The proponents of this massive tax increase can’t even guarantee the $6
billion would be spent on schools, healthcare, or senior services, as they
claim. All of the new tax revenue would go to the General Fund, giving
politicians and bureaucrats a blank check to spend billions of dollars as
they please with no accountability to the public. The only guarantee in
M97 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.
You can also learn more about M97 by going to the campaign website at
Defeat97.com.