BOARDMAN, Ore.-Five measures are on Oregon’s ballot this election season, but only one has a tax on it, and it is receiving some negative reactions in the Boardman community.
Measure 118 proposes a 3% tax increase for businesses who make over $25 million each year in gross sales, said Daniel Wattenburger at a Boardman Chamber of Commerce meet and greet Monday evening.
The tax revenue would be divided equally among Oregonians and would go directly into the community’s pockets as rebates. It is expected to come out to a total of $6.8 billion, and one analyst expects to see $1,600 per person.
According to Antonio Gisbert, the petitioner who brought this measure to the ballot, the money won’t solve every problem, but it could help local economies flourish, according to KGW reporting on the ballot measure in Portland.
“Number one, giant corporations are not paying their fair share in taxes,” Gisbert said. “And number two, we also noticed that we as working class folks were finding it ever harder to make ends meet.”
Over 2,400 businesses will be impacted by the tax, and there will be no exception on who will have to pay, Wattenburger said.
Wattenburger, who is voting ‘no’ for the measure, said he considers this a tax on top of a tax because products will be taxed multiple times before getting to the hands of a customer or consumer, such as when wood is sold to timber mills.
“When that timber mill turns into lumber and sells the wholesaler, it’s another 3% to the retailer, another 3% to the contractor and 3%. So as it goes, it keeps stacking up,” he said. “By the time it gets to that consumer, that homebuilder, that individual person who’s just trying to fix their deck, whatever it may be, it’s accumulated these levels of taxes and has that extra tax, that extra cost carried with it.”
This can happen to any product if the measure passes, including food grown and processed in Oregon, which would then continue to pick up the tax on its way to grocery store shelves, he said.
Wattenburger said the measure would not only impact business, but the consumers as well, because if passed, the cost of groceries, medical care and other services would rise throughout the state.
Councilmember Heather Baumgartner, who is running for reelection and owns two businesses of her own, said she plans to vote ‘no’ for this measure as well.
“I am a small business owner and I recognize the fact that when you go to tax gross sales on somebody, regardless of whether or not they make a profit or not, if they’re showing even in the red, they’re still going to get taxed that 3%,” she said. “It could potentially put people out of business. It could reduce their labor force.”
Baumgartner said the tax will raise costs on every product, leading to a negative impact on her business and others who might move out of Oregon to a state where they might be able to earn more money.
The two other city council candidates, Brenda Profitt and Cristina Cuevas, were unable to speak at the meet and greet, but this story will continue to be updated when more information arises.
