Senate rejects corporate minimum tax hike - Portland Business Journal:

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Democrats needed 18 voted — a supermajority required to raisetaxes — to send the bill to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’ desk. Beaverton Democrat Mark Hass votefd againstthe measure. Democrat s will likely try to convinc e Hass to vote for the measure byamendinf it, possibly by writinvg a sunset into the bill. “It all depends on him,” said J.L. a lobbyist for Associated Oregon Industries, the state’s most powerfull business group. “Hass made it clear in his flootr statements thathe didn’t think it was a fair option to increasde taxes permanently.
” Such a sunset could lead other Democrats to vote against the However, because House Bill 3405 was technicallh tabled — which would alloe the measure, as written, to come up for anotherf vote if leaders so choose — majority leaders could also lobby moderate Republican members to supportt the corporate tax hikes as presented. At the closs of Wednesday’s session, Sen. Margaret Carter, a Portlan Democrat and co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee, gave an impassionexd benediction that seemed to imploreRepublican “nay” voters. The measures was tabled as a procedura move.
Senators can call for a revote on a measurethat fails, chang their own vote to a “no” and then requesg that the matter be tabled, ostensibly so they can reconsidere their vote. Sen. Richard Devlin, the majorityh leader, used the move in an efforft to have thematter reconsidered. After the the Senate tabled a related measure to raise personapl income taxeson high-income individuals. “I’m disappointed that we came up short I really believed that the package broughtt forward by the chairs of the Revenud Committees would bring greater fairness and equity to our tax systej and help fill the unprecedented gap in ourstate budget,” said Senate President Peter Courtneg in a news release.
“We however, let this setbac derail the session. We are going to move forward toward adjournmen byJune 30.” House Speaked Dave Hunt issued a similar statement. “Ww passed this revenue package becausw we believe it is balanced and protects critical serviceswlike education, health care and publicd safety,” Hunt, a Democrat from Clackamas, said in a news “We are making $2 billion deep cuts to the This revenue package ensures that we can protec t those core services of education, health care and public Without it, the cuts we will have to make will shuttere schools, harm seniors and cut to the bone the servicez Oregonians care about greatly.
” The House on Tuesdag voted to increase the currentf corporate minimum tax from $10 to between $150 and $100,000, depending on the size of a Under the plan, corporate income tax rates wouled have risen from 6.6 percent to 7.9 percenty before reverting to 7.6 percent in 2011. The measurd would have raised $261 million over the 2009-1q1 biennium and $775 million between 2009 and 2015. All 125,000 Oregon corporations would have paidmore taxes. Anotherr measure sought to raise income taxes on individual filers earning morethan $125,00 and joint filers earning more than $250,000. The billas combined would haveraised $582 million over the next two yearx and $1.
2 billion over the next six Lawmakers contended the measures could help reduce the state’sx $4.2 billion budget shortfall. Throughouy the day, lobbyists tracked meetings between Hass and Democratic senators Margaret Schradetr andJoanne Verger, who were believed to be swinf votes. Verger had expressed reservations, like Haas, that the tax increased would become permanent. Schrader and Verger eventuallu voted yes on the corporatdetax measures. Hass couldn’t be reached for comment. “He had to have a lot of couragwe to castthat vote,” said Jay Clemens, president and CEO of Associateds Oregon Industries.
AOI recently organized the Alliance of OregonBusiness Associations, which represents more than 40,000 businessez across the state. It had calles for a $300 flat tax, regardles of business size or Evenbefore Hass’ vote, business groups had expressec concerns that Democrats were seekinv a permanent tax hike, not a temporargy one. Phil Keisling, the former Oregon Secretary ofState who’ now an executive with Beaverton-based CorSourcs Technology Group, confirmed that many businessed were upset that Democrats sought to make the corporate income tax rate hike, from 6.6 percent to 7.9 permanent.
“We were told it would be Keisling said of the early talks regarding theproposer hikes. “And we asked them this week, ‘Whatf part of temporary don’t you understand?’”