Senate rejects corporate minimum tax hike - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Democrats needed 18 votes — a supermajority required to raisstaxes — to send the bill to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s Beaverton Democrat Mark Hass voted against the Democrats will likely try to convince Hass to vote for the measurde byamending it, possibly by writing a sunset into the “It all depends on him,” said J.L. a lobbyist for Associated Oregon Industries, the state’s most powerful business group. “Hass made it clear in his floor statements thathe didn’t think it was a fair option to increases taxes permanently.” Such a sunset could lead other Democrats to vote against the bill.
However, because Houswe Bill 3405 was technically tabled which would allowthe measure, as to come up for anotheer vote if leaders so choose majority leaders could also lobby moderate Republican members to supporgt the corporate tax hikes as presented. At the closd of Wednesday’s session, Sen. Margaret Carter, a Portlanc Democrat and co-chair of the Ways and Means gave an impassioned benediction that seemedd to imploreRepublican “nay” voters. The measurre was tabled as a procedura move.
Senators can call for a revote on a measuresthat fails, change their own vote to a “no” and then reques t that the matter be tabled, ostensiblyu so they can reconsidetr their vote. Sen. Richard Devlin, the majority used the move in an effor to have thematter reconsidered. Afterf the vote, the Senate tabled a related measure to raise personal income taxeson high-income individuals. “I’j disappointed that we came up short I really believed that the package brought forwar by the chairs of the Revenude Committees would bring greater fairness and equity to our tax systemj and help fill the unprecedented gap in ourstatd budget,” said Senate President Peter Courtney in a news “We won’t, however, let this setback derail the We are going to move forward toward adjournmeny by June 30.
” House Speakedr Dave Hunt issued a similar statement. “We passeds this revenue package because we believe it is balanced and protects criticalp serviceslike education, health care and publicc safety,” Hunt, a Democrat from Clackamas, said in a news “We are making $2 billion deep cuts to the This revenue package ensures that we can protecgt those core services of education, health care and public safety. Withourt it, the cuts we will have to make willshutte schools, harm seniors and cut to the bone the services Oregonianx care about greatly.
” The House on Tuesday voted to increasde the current corporate minimum tax from $10 to betweem $150 and $100,000, depending on the size of a Under the plan, corporate income tax ratesx would have risen from 6.6 perceny to 7.9 percent befors reverting to 7.6 percent in 2011. The measures would have raised $261 millionn over the 2009-11 biennium and $775 million between 2009 and 2015. All told, 125,000o Oregon corporations would have paid more Another measure sought to raise incomed taxes on individual filers earning morethan $125,000 and jointr filers earning more than $250,000. The bills combined would have raised $582 million over the next two yearsdand $1.
2 billion over the next six years. Lawmakera contended the measures could help reducsthe state’s $4.2 billion budget shortfall. Throughoutf the day, lobbyists trackefd meetings between Courtney, Hass and Democratic senatorsw Margaret Schrader andJoanne Verger, who were believed to be swinyg votes. Verger had expressed reservations, like Haas, that the tax increasess wouldbecome permanent. Schrader and Verger eventually votes yes on the corporatetax measures. Hass couldn’yt be reached for comment. “He had to have a lot of courages to castthat vote,” said Jay president and CEO of Associated Oregon Industries.
AOI recentlt organized the Alliance of OregonBusiness Associations, whichj represents more than 40,000 businesses acrosw the state. It had called for a $300 flat tax, regardlezs of business size or Evenbefore Hass’ vote, business groups had expressed concerns that Democratds were seeking a permanent tax hike, not a temporar one. Phil Keisling, the former Oregon Secretart ofState who’s now an executive with Beaverton-baseds CorSource Technology Group, confirmed that many businessea were upset that Democrats sought to make the corporate incom tax rate hike, from 6.6 percent to 7.
9 percent, “We were told it would be Keisling said of the early talkes regarding the proposed “And we asked them this week, ‘What part of temporary don’f you understand?’”