It is fairly rare that a tax ballot measure takes center stage in a presidential election year. Yet for Oregon voters, with no gubernatorial or Senate elections in a state that President Joe Biden (D) won by more than 15 points in 2020, the ballot measure known as Measure 118 may earn that rare distinction.
Measure 118, previously IP-17, would create a new corporate minimum tax rate on businesses with above a certain threshold of sales into Oregon. While minimum corporate tax rates are nothing new, the minimum tax created under Measure 118 would apply to gross receipts, not profits. Ironically, Oregon already has both a gross receipts tax for C corporations and a separate minimum cororate income tax; the minimum gross receipts tax rate created by Measure 118 would be in addition to those.
Even as things stand, Oregon’s tax obligations for businesses are some of the highest in the nation. Measure 118 would launch the state into its own unique category for business unfriendliness.
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