Oregon Center for Public Policy: No Gain, Just Pain: Most Oregonians Would Not Benefit from Measure 59, But They Would Lose Public Services
ITEP Work in ActionMeasure 59, which would allow an unlimited deduction of federal income taxes on state tax returns, offers no tax break to more than three out of four Oregon taxpayers. And yet the measure’s hefty price tag — more than about 9 percent of General Fund revenues, each budget cycle — would force deep cuts in Oregon’s public structures.
Voters rejected a similar scheme in 2000. This year’s reincarnation of the unlimited federal tax deduction portends no gain, just pain for most Oregonians.