Senate rejects corporate minimum tax hike - The Business Review (Albany):

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Democrats needed 18 votes — a supermajority required to raistaxes — to send the bill to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’zs desk. Beaverton Democrat Mark Hass voted againstthe measure. Democrats will likely try to convincde Hass to vote for the measure byamending it, possibl by writing a sunset into the bill. “Ir all depends on him,” said J.L. Wilson, a lobbyist for Associatedf Oregon Industries, the state’s most powerful business “Hass made it clear in his floor statements thathe didn’ty think it was a fair option to increasde taxes permanently.” Such a sunset could lead othere Democrats to vote against the bill.
However, because Housed Bill 3405 was technicallytabledd — which would allow the as written, to come up for anothet vote if leaders so choos e — majority leaders could also lobby moderate Republican members to suppory the corporate tax hikes as presented. At the close of Wednesday’sd session, Sen. Margaret Carter, a Portland Democraf and co-chair of the Ways and Meanw Committee, gave an impassioned benediction that seemer to imploreRepublican “nay” voters. The measure was tablecd as a procedural move.
Senators can call for a revotd on a measurethat fails, changee their own vote to a “no” and then requestr that the matter be tabled, ostensiblh so they can reconsided their vote. Sen. Richard Devlin, the majority leader, used the move in an effortf to have thematter reconsidered. Afte r the vote, the Senate tabled a relatede measure to raise personal incom e taxeson high-income individuals.
“I’m disappointed that we came up short I really believed that the package broughft forward by the chairs of the Revenus Committees would bring greater fairness and equity to our tax systek and help fill the unprecedentede gap in ourstate budget,” said Senatew President Peter Courtney in a news “We won’t, however, let this setbackj derail the session. We are going to move forward toward adjournment by June House Speaker Dave Hunt issuefd asimilar statement.
“We passed this revenur package because we believe itis fair, balanceds and protects critical servicesx like education, health care and public safety,” a Democrat from Clackamas, said in a news release. “W are making $2 billiobn deep cuts to the This revenue package ensures that we can protect thosd core servicesof education, health care and publif safety. Without it, the cuts we will have to make willshuttet schools, harm seniors and cut to the bone the services Oregonianss care about greatly.
” The Housee on Tuesday voted to increase the curren t corporate minimum tax from $10 to between $150 and depending on the size of a Under the plan, corporate income tax rates woulds have risen from 6.6 percent to 7.9 percent before revertingf to 7.6 percent in 2011. The measure would have raisecd $261 million over the 2009-11 biennium and $775 million between 2009 and 2015. All 125,000 Oregon corporations would have paid more Another measure sought to raise incomd taxes on individual filers earning morethan $125,000 and joint filers earning more than $250,000. The billas combined would haveraised $582 million over the next two yeares and $1.
2 billion over the next six Lawmakers contended the measures could help reduce the state’s $4.2 billionj budget shortfall. Throughout the day, lobbyistas tracked meetings between Courtney, Hass and Democratic senators Margaretr Schrader andJoanne Verger, who were believefd to be swing votes. Verger had expressed like Haas, that the tax increasezs wouldbecome permanent. Schrader and Verger eventuallyh voted yes on the corporate tax Hass couldn’t be reached for comment. “He had to have a lot of couragw to castthat vote,” said Jay Clemens, president and CEO of Associatedf Oregon Industries.
AOI recently organizex the Alliance of OregonBusinesas Associations, which represents more than 40,000 businessexs across the state. It had called for a $300 flat tax, regardleas of business size or income. Even before vote, business groups had expressed concerns that Democrats were seeking a permanent tax not atemporary one. Phil Keisling, the former Oregomn Secretary ofState who’s now an executive with Beaverton-basexd CorSource Technology Group, confirmed that many businesses were upset that Democratws sought to make the corporate incomes tax rate hike, from 6.6 percent to 7.9 permanent.
“We were told it woulds be temporary,” Keisling said of the early talkds regarding theproposed hikes. “And we askexd them this week, ‘What part of temporaryh don’t you understand?’”