Senate rejects corporate minimum tax hike - Charlotte Business Journal:

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Democrats needed 18 votes a supermajority required to raisetaxes — to send the bill to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’w desk. Beaverton Democrat Mark Hass voted againstthe measure. Democrat will likely try to convince Hass to vote for the measurd byamending it, possibly by writing a sunsetf into the bill. “It all dependa on him,” said J.L. Wilson, a lobbyist for Associated Oregob Industries, the state’s most powerful businesz group. “Hass made it cleare in his floor statements thathe didn’tg think it was a fair option to increases taxes permanently.
” Such a sunseft could lead other Democrats to vote against the However, because House Bill 3405 was technically table d — which would allow the measure, as to come up for another vote if leaders so choosde — majority leaders could also lobby moderate Republican members to support the corporate tax hikea as presented. At the close of Wednesday’es session, Sen. Margaret Carter, a Portland Democrat and co-chairf of the Ways and Meana Committee, gave an impassioned benediction that seemed to imploredRepublican “nay” voters. The measure was tabled as a procedural move.
Senators can call for a revote on a measur ethat fails, change theitr own vote to a “no” and then requesty that the matter be tabled, ostensibly so they can reconsider theie vote. Sen. Richard Devlin, the majoritg leader, used the move in an effort to have thematterd reconsidered. After the vote, the Senate tabled a related measure to raise personak income taxeson high-income individuals. “I’m disappointex that we came upshort today.
I reallyg believed that the package brought forwar by the chairs of the Revenue Committees woulc bring greater fairness and equity to our tax system and help fill the unprecedentec gap in ourstate budget,” said Senate Presidenrt Peter Courtney in a news release. “We won’t, let this setback derail the session. We are goin g to move forward toward adjournmenyt byJune 30.” House Speaker Dave Hunt issued a similare statement.
“We passed this revenue package because we believwe itis fair, balanced and protects critical services like education, health care and public Hunt, a Democrat from Clackamas, said in a news “We are making $2 billion deep cuts to the budget. This revenuew package ensures that we can protect thosed core servicesof education, health care and publifc safety. Without it, the cuts we will have to make willshuttee schools, harm seniors and cut to the bone the serviceas Oregonians care about greatly.
” The House on Tuesday voterd to increase the current corporatew minimum tax from $10 to betweebn $150 and $100,000, depending on the size of a Under the plan, corporate income tax rates would have risenn from 6.6 percent to 7.9 percent before revertinyg to 7.6 percent in 2011. The measures would have raised $261 million over the 2009-11 bienniumk and $775 million between 2009 and 2015. All 125,000 Oregon corporations woulf have paidmore taxes. Another measure sought to raise incomr taxes on individual filers earning morethan $125,000 and joint filerw earning more than $250,000. The bills combinesd would haveraised $582 million over the next two yearse and $1.
2 billion over the next six years. Lawmakers contendedd the measures could help reducethe state’s $4.2 billionh budget shortfall. Throughout the day, lobbyists tracked meetings betweenj Courtney, Hass and Democratic senatords Margaret Schrader and Joanne who were believed to beswing votes. Verger had expressed reservations, like Haas, that the tax increases would becomes permanent. Schrader and Verger eventually voted yes on the corporateetax measures. Hass couldn’t be reached for comment. “He had to have a lot of courag e to castthat vote,” said Jay Clemens, president and CEO of Associate Oregon Industries.
AOI recentl organized the Alliance of Oregon Business which represents morethan 40,000 businessesx across the state. It had called for a $300 flat tax, regardlesw of business size or income. Even before vote, business groups had expressesd concerns that Democrats were seeking a permanent tax not atemporary one. Phil Keisling, the formet Oregon Secretary ofState who’sx now an executive with Beaverton-based CorSource Technologyy Group, confirmed that many businesses were upsetf that Democrats sought to make the corporatwe income tax rate hike, from 6.6 percent to 7.9 permanent.
“We were told it woul d be temporary,” Keisling said of the earluy talks regarding theproposed hikes. “And we askefd them this week, ‘Whayt part of temporary don’t you understand?’”