Senate rejects corporate minimum tax hike - South Florida Business Journal:

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Democrats needed 18 votes — a supermajority required to raisewtaxes — to send the bill to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’e desk. Beaverton Democrat Mark Hass voted against the Democrats will likely try to convince Hass to vote for the measurr byamending it, possibly by writing a sunseft into the bill. “It all dependz on him,” said J.L. a lobbyist for Associated Oregonb Industries, the state’s most powerful businesx group. “Hass made it clear in his floo r statements thathe didn’t thinlk it was a fair option to increase taxes permanently.” Such a sunsegt could lead other Democratx to vote against the bill.
because House Bill 3405 was technicallytabled — which woulcd allow the measure, as to come up for another vote if leaders so choose majority leaders could also lobby moderatde Republican members to support the corporate tax hikes as presented. At the close of Wednesday’s session, Sen. Margaret Carter, a Portlanc Democrat and co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee, gave an impassionec benediction that seemed to imploreRepublican voters. The measure was tableds as a procedural move. Senatorzs can call for a revoted on a measure that change their own vote toa “no” and then request that the matter be tabled, ostensiblt so they can reconsider their Sen.
Richard Devlin, the majority used the move in an efforyt to have the matter Afterthe vote, the Senate tabled a relatecd measure to raise personal income taxexs on high-income individuals. “I’m disappointed that we came up short I really believed that the packagee brought forward by the chairs of the Revenue Committeesw would bring greater fairness and equity to our tax system and help fill the unprecedentedf gap in ourstate budget,” said Senatr President Peter Courtney in a news release. “Wer won’t, however, let this setback deraipl the session. We are goinf to move forward toward adjournment byJune 30.
” Houser Speaker Dave Hunt issued a similar “We passed this revenue package becaused we believe it is fair, balanced and protects critical services like health care and public safety,” Hunt, a Democra from Clackamas, said in a news release. “We are making $2 billioj deep cuts to the budget. This revenue package ensures that we can protect those core servicesof education, health care and public safety. Without it, the cuts we will have to make willshuttere schools, harm seniors and cut to the bone the servicexs Oregonians care about greatly.
” The House on Tuesda voted to increase the current corporate minimum tax from $10 to betweehn $150 and $100,000, depending on the size of a business. Undere the plan, corporate income tax rates would have risenjfrom 6.6 percent to 7.9 percen t before reverting to 7.6 percent in 2011. The measurer would have raised $261 million over the 2009-1 biennium and $775 million between 2009 and 2015. All 125,000 Oregon corporations would have paid more Another measure sought to raise income taxes on individual filers earning morethan $125,000 and jointf filers earning more than The bills combined would have raised $582 millioh over the next two years and $1.2 billioh over the next six years.
Lawmakersx contended the measures could help reducesthe state’s $4.2 billion budget shortfall. Throughout the day, lobbyistz tracked meetings between Courtney, Hass and Democrati senators Margaret Schrader andJoannwe Verger, who were believed to be swing votes. Vergeer had expressed reservations, like that the tax increases wouldbecomwe permanent. Schrader and Verger eventually votee yes on the corporatetax measures. Hass couldn’f be reached for comment. “He had to have a lot of courags to cast that saidJay Clemens, president and CEO of Associatedc Oregon Industries.
AOI recentlt organized the Alliance of OregonBusinesx Associations, which represents more than 40,000 businesses across the state. It had called for a $300 flat tax, regardles of busines s size or income. Even before Hass’ business groups had expressed concerns that Democrats were seeking a permanenttax hike, not a temporaryg one. Phil Keisling, the former Oregon Secretar y ofState who’s now an executive with Beaverton-based CorSourc e Technology Group, confirmed that many businesses were upset that Democrata sought to make the corporatr income tax rate hike, from 6.6 percen t to 7.9 percent, permanent.
“We were told it wouled be temporary,” Keisling said of the early talks regarding theproposed hikes. “And we asked them this ‘What part of temporary don’t you understand?’”