Hey, Oregonians, I have a question for you!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

The righties here in Minnesota are claiming that tax receipts went down after Oregon voted to raise taxes on the wealthy "because all the rich people moved away."

I have not seen anything about this anywhere else, so I suspect that it's something the AM radio squawkers are repeating. What is the truth about this? Did tax receipts go down? If so was something else the cause (unemployment, for example?)

[roxiejules]

1. Moving down, not out

Must be the latest 'talking points' to encourage lower taxes for the wealthy -

http://www.blueoregon.com/2010/12/facts-and-logic-go-missing-again-wall-street-journal-editorial/

http://www.itepnet.org/pdf/or_wsjmigration_1210.pdf

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/01/20/are-taxes-really-driving-the-rich-out-of-rhode-island/

[L. Coyote]

2. We are doing just fine without doctors and lawyers

:rofl: That talking point is so imbecilic on the face of it :rofl: you know who their audience is! :rofl:

[Bluenorthwest]

3. Pretty funny. People with the means and desire to take residence

according to State tax code simply would not live in Oregon to begin with. WA State has no income tax, and they are visible from here!
Basically, anyone who could up and move over a small tax increase would probably already live in Florida or NV or WA or some other State with no income tax. Why would they be here at all?

[roxiejules]

4. It was a 1.8% increase in taxes

on personal income above $250,000 for couples, $125,000 for an individual.

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/01/oregon_wage_gap_widens_economi.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. As I recall, Oregon's income tax was pretty flat

When I moved there in the early 1980s, it was essentially a flat tax, because the minimum income level for the top rate looked as if it hadn't been revised since about 1960, although they indexed it a bit later on.

[cascadiance]

6. This legislation also helped the unemployed with a tax break too...

[quakerboy]

7. One thing I suspect that will eventually come out

is that a portion of the supposedly "missing" 10k high income filers own property elsewhere, and are claiming that as primary residence, in an attempt to avoid taxes.

Plus, yeah, the economy sucks, and we have higher unemployment as a state than many others. so yeah, tax receipts apparently went down. but not due to the rise in taxes.

[bhikkhu]

8. recession = decreased tax receipts

You could also imagine it would be very easy for anyone with that kind of money to arrange for residency over the river - in WA there is no income tax. But a 1.8% increase is hardly worth the effort to avoid, I would think.

If you wonder about the difference it makes having no income tax vs. having no sales tax, you should come and visit Portland, OR and its neighbor across the bridge - Vancouver, WA. It seems that no sales tax and a reasonable income tax works just fine.

[HuckleB]

9. No one moved away.

Unemployment is down. The economy is down. People are spending less. End of story.

[HuckleB]

10. Venture Capital Continues to Say Oregon Has Good Business Climate

http://www.blueoregon.com/2010/08/venture-capital-continues-say-oregon-has-good-business-climate/

Washington Businesses Stampede to Oregon
http://www.blueoregon.com/2010/04/washington-businesses-stampede-to-oregon/

[LWolf]

11. AM radio squawkers and their zombies have repeated that ad nauseum.

Revenues are down. Unemployment is high. In my area, people are moving out to find jobs. Our school district is losing students steadily. My school has dropped from an all-time high of about 525 students 3 years ago to about 400 students this year. Families are trying to find jobs.

They aren't all moving out of state, though. Most are moving to other areas in our state, where higher population numbers create (relatively) more jobs.