- June 15, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
Oregon lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled Senate are set to vote as soon as this week on a proposal to trim a controversial business tax break that allows qualifying business owners to pay much lower tax rates than wage earners.
With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the plan emerged from a seemingly unlikely collaboration between Sen. Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, and Sen. Brian Boquist, a former Republican from Dallas who is now a member of the Independent Party of Oregon.
In 2017, House Democrats passed a bill to pare back the tax break after state tax data showed it benefitted lawyers and doctors — “suits and scrubs,” Democrats complained — rather than the manufacturers and exporters touted as beneficiaries when lawmakers approved the provision in 2013. The 2017 bill died in the Senate and qualifying taxpayers continue to use the break to cut their taxes by approximately $100 million a year, meaning the state misses out on…
