Surprise! Oregon is bad for business!

 Overly-taxed, overly-regulated, under-appreciated and seen as    , Oregon’s political class has made the state a very difficult place to do business.  

In order to survive, all businesses, even non-profits, have to at least break even.  If businesses are to flourish and grow - hire more people, raise wages and benefits, purchase more equipment, etc., they need to make a profit.  If government at any level makes profitability difficult or impossible or creates an atmosphere of uncertainty, owners and investors will take their money elsewhere.  

The state of Oregon and certain left-leaning cities have plucked the commercial money tree bare, and can’t be trusted not to continue their grift for money from increased taxes and fees from so-called wealthy residents.  In 2023 the legislature floated a wealth tax in the form of a state property tax that included both real and “intangible” property with carveouts for certain lower income citizens TBD.  Interpretation:  Wealth taxes for the rich.  This is an idea that is so bad it will no doubt make a comeback in Oregon, so watch for it!  

After businesses and wealthy people leave the state, how will politicians, activists, Utopians, socialists and the economically-uneducated pay for all the things they want government to provide?  But why should you care - especially if you work for the government?

                                  NO ONE SHOULD THINK THAT THEIR BUSINESS,                                                PROPERTY OR NET WORTH IS SAFE IN OREGON

Taxing business is the way politicians pretend they aren’t raising taxes on the people who vote for them.  

Oregon is making news now on its awful tax competitiveness compared with other states.  Trouble is, WE have to live with it!  Or not…  there are also lists of states where one’s rights and property is protected.    

PORTLAND IS ON TOP!

Portland Oregon

It’s no secret that the Portland area has high taxes. The region is known for the world’s largest bookstore, its breweries, a vibrant art scene, and the old PDX airport carpet, but decidedly not for its commitment to tax competitiveness.

Portland residents face some of the highest taxes in the country. City, county, regional, and state taxes on individual and both net and gross business income combine to create a crushing tax wedge, yielding some of the highest marginal rates on wage income nationwide. And after factoring in the average net income effect of the Oregon Corporate Activity Tax (CAT), Portland easily has the nation’s highest marginal effective rates on both corporate and pass-through business income.

Because this tax burden is spread across so many taxes—the Supportive Housing Services Tax at the Metro level, for instance, combined with the Business Net Income Tax imposed by Multnomah County and the Business License Tax levied in Portland, all atop Oregon’s state individual income tax and gross receipts-based CAT—it can be difficult to appreciate the full burden. Unless you’re paying it.

Workers, business owners, and investors in Portland, Multnomah County, and the Metro region all experience these considerable burdens. Portland has the highest business taxes—on small and large businesses, and pass-throughs and corporations alike—and the second highest top marginal rate on wage income in the country.

https://taxfoundation.org/location/oregon/

Oregon Tax Rates, Collections, and Burdens

How does Oregon’s tax code compare? Oregon has a graduated state individual income tax, with rates ranging from 4.75 percent to 9.9 percent. There are also jurisdictions that collect local income taxes, with high taxes in the Portland Metro area. Oregon has a graduated corporate income tax, with rates ranging from 6.6 percent to 7.6 percent. The state levies a gross receipts tax in addition to the corporate income tax. Oregon does not have a state sales tax. Oregon has a 0.78 percent effective property tax rate on owner-occupied housing value.

Oregon has an estate tax. Oregon has a 40 cents per gallon gas tax rate and a $3.33 cigarette excise tax rate (per pack of 20 cigarettes). The State of Oregon collects $6,920 in state and local tax collections per capita. Oregon has $10,066 in state and local debt per capita and an 81 percent funded ratio of public pension plans. Oregon’s tax system ranks 35th overall on the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index.

Each state’s tax code is a multifaceted system with many moving parts, and Oregon is no exception. The first step toward understanding Oregon’s tax code is knowing the basics. How does Oregon collect tax revenue? Click the tabs below to learn more! You can also explore our state tax maps, which are compiled from our annual publication, Facts & Figures 2025: How Does Your State Compare?

Movers and Shakers in the 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index

November 3, 20256 min readBy: Janelle Fritts

The Tax Foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index enables policymakers, taxpayers, and business leaders to see how their states’ tax systems measure up across a wide range of tax measures. While there are many ways to show how much state governments collect in taxes, the Index evaluates how well states structure their tax systems and provides a road map for improvement.

The Tax Foundation has published this study, previously called the State Business Tax Climate Index, since 2003. Last year, we updated the methodology to more comprehensively address a range of emerging tax issues. As with any methodological changes, we apply them to prior years as well to allow for an apples-to-apples comparison across years. Currently, backcasting under the new methodology stretches back to fiscal year 2020 (July 1, 2019).

In the spirit of change and improvement, it’s worth looking back to see which states have truly embraced tax competitiveness since 2020, and which ones have lagged behind.

The five states that saw the largest improvements in their rank over the last six years are:

1. Tennessee, which ranked 38th in 2020, now ranks 8th.
2. Iowa, which ranked 43rd in 2020, now ranks 17th.
3. Georgia, which ranked 28th in 2020, now ranks 18th.
4. Louisiana, which ranked 40th in 2020, now ranks 31st.
5. Arkansas, which ranked 41st in 2020, now ranks 34th.

The five states that fell the furthest in the rankings in the last six years are:

1. Oregon, which ranked 8th in 2020, now ranks 35th.
2. Washington, which ranked 33rd in 2020, now ranks 45th.
3. Colorado, which ranked 22nd in 2020, now ranks 33rd.
4. New Mexico, which ranked 20th in 2020, now ranks 28th.
5. Massachusetts, which ranked 36th in 2020, now ranks 43rd.

Creating new life through microbes, designed to spy on you.

 Sounds unbelievable, but supposedly it’s true.  Human beings designing microbes, new life “systems” to populate the earth to gain ultimate control over … everything.  What will Mother Nature do when modified and programmed microbes enter the ecosystem, and you too?

Read the full article on Substack!

The Planetary Bio-Surveillance Grid

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Smartdust

UNSHADOWED (IAF)

SEP 01, 2025

…..but the public is increasingly showing awareness of (and resistance to!) wearable IoT devices and the surveillance state. What is a future-AI-as-god-worshipping-technocrat to do?

Naturally, preferring asymmetric warfare, you change tactics and attack in an invisible way: synthetic biology. You create surveillance microbes, stage a crisis that demands their mass deployment "for your safety." You flood the zone with them, quickly replacing the natural microbiome across farms, forests, foods, guts, and wastewater. Suddenly, humanity is being monitored from within -- no wearable devices, no microchip implants. You welcome the myriad problems this disconnection from our ancestral microbiome will inevitably create, as each offers a chance to further use biotechnology and tighten your grip.

synthetic biology:

Synthetic biology is a multidisciplinary field of science that focuses on living systems and organisms. It applies engineering principles to develop new biological parts, devices, and systems or to redesign existing systems found in nature. It is a branch of science that encompasses a broad range of methodologies from various disciplines, such as biochemistry, biotechnology, biomaterials, material science/engineering, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, membrane science, biophysics, chemical and biological engineering, electrical and computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Wikipedia

One company’s tag line is — Synthetic Biology: Designing Life From Scratch”

From MIT:

Learn how synthetic biologists design, build, and test new living systems for various applications, such as health, energy, and security. Explore the foundational technologies, tools, and challenges of this emerging field at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Is Oregon still in America?

More federal laws Oregon’s leaders have decided not to follow.  Read the press release from the DOJ about our state’s latest illegal attack on the Constitution of the United States of America.  We haven’t seceded from the Union yet! 

Justice Department Sues Oregon and Maine for Failure to Provide Voter Registration Rolls

Tuesday, September 16, 2025

For Immediate Release

Office of Public Affairs

Today, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division sued the states of Oregon and Maine, and their respective Secretaries of State, for failing to provide information regarding voter list maintenance procedures and electronic copies of statewide voter registration lists.

“States simply cannot pick and choose which federal laws they will comply with, including our voting laws, which ensure that all American citizens have equal access to the ballot in federal elections,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “American citizens have a right to feel confident in the integrity of our electoral process, and the refusal of certain states to protect their citizens against vote dilution will result in legal consequences.”

The lawsuit against Oregon alleges that Oregon and its Secretary of State Tobias Read violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) by refusing to produce the current unredacted electronic copy of the state’s voter registration list, to provide information on the state’s voter list maintenance program, and to disclose registration information for any ineligible voters.

From another source, another lawsuit on the same topic filed in 2024 by Judicial Watch and others.  

FEDERAL COURT GREENLIGHTS LAWSUIT TO UPHOLD VOTER INTEGRITY IN OREGON

/ SAN News, Voting / By Don Lichterman

In a significant victory for election transparency, a federal court in Oregon has given the green light for a lawsuit aimed at ensuring the state’s voter rolls are accurate and up-to-date. This legal action, spearheaded by the non-profit organization Judicial Watch, seeks to enforce federal mandates that are essential for maintaining the integrity of our electoral process.

Judicial Watch initiated this lawsuit in October 2024 after an extensive investigation revealed a widespread failure to maintain voter rolls across numerous Oregon counties. Their findings indicated that 29 of Oregon’s 36 counties had removed very few or no registrations, despite federal law requiring such cleanup. The complaint further asserts that Oregon and 35 of its counties had voter registration rates that exceeded 100% of the eligible population—a clear red flag for an outdated and inaccurate system. With the highest known inactive registration rate of any state in the nation, Oregon stands as a prime example of why voter roll maintenance is so critical.

What do Socialists believe about Private Property?

 I bet you think socialist and Marxist plans are being expressed somewhere else.  I bet you are wrong.  

For years Oregon and California have been passing legislation that takes away your rights, even those you thought were guaranteed in the Constitution.  

Willamette Valley Democrats have voted for a super majority of Democrats to control the state and institute leftist policies that elevate socialist and Marxist theories of wealth sharing and state control through laws enacted to promote noble-sounding ideologies of environmentalism, diversity, and wealth sharing.  By catering to activists (and being activists themselves) rather than representing their constituents, many Oregonians do not feel like the state is part of the United States of America anymore.  

Private property ownership which includes one’s business, land, material goods and financial assets are prohibited from seizure by the government without due process.  And yet, Oregon has had its thumb on some industries’ profits through over-regulation and price controls so that owners are working more for the government t than themselves.  The business remains in their name, but everything else is under government control.  The same thing is happening to our homes, automobiles and everything we believe is our choice of how to live.  

Incremental Marxism is no better than overt takeover of private assets. 

Here is an excerpt from an article from July 2025.  When you hear activists in Oregon demanding free stuff, this is what they are talking about.  If you think the “rich” will pay for all the goodies, the rich will leave and/or the rich will run out of money.  Only idiots and the ignorant believe that Socialism and Communism will work.  Perhaps this map will show why Western, (capitalist) countries are wealthier than socialist and communist ones.  

I Bet You Will Believe What Zohran Mamdani Said About  Private Property

MATT MARGOLIS, July 19, 2025

PJMedia

Socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is once again being haunted by his own words—this time, a resurfaced video shows the far-left New York City mayoral hopeful openly musing about abolishing private property. Yes, really. The same guy running to oversee one of the world’s largest real estate markets thinks private ownership is a problem. It’s yet another reminder that Mamdani isn’t just a radical in theory—he says the quiet part out loud.

The broader implications here go beyond one mayoral race. Mamdani represents the increasingly emboldened socialist wing of the Democratic Party that's no longer bothering to hide its contempt for American institutions.

When politicians start casually discussing the abolition of private property—a concept so fundamental to American liberty that it's enshrined in our Constitution—we're witnessing the normalization of truly radical ideas.

**************************************************

For more reading on the future of Socialism, read this article from the Mises Institute.  

Socialism Always Leads to Totalitarian

And watch this video from PragerU:

Oregon’s Failed Wildfire Hazard Map

 WHY is Oregon engaging in such vile, restrictive, anti-property rights and probably illegal behavior?  

I have my own ideas, but I leave it to you to follow the dots to determine what the ultimate goal of the state is concerning land use.  When Oregon created the Department of Land Conservation and Development (DLCD), the state took control over every scrap of land not under federal control, reaching into every city, neighborhood, side street and residential lot.  

The story below ought to anger every Oregonian.  Whether you believe in the state’s stated mission of wildfire prevention (read the regulations imposed on high-risk properties), everyone should be outraged over the Oregon Department of Forestry’s lack of transparency and Oregon State University’s failure to correct the data and analysis used to create their high-risk map.  

Excerpts from the article exposing the fraud are shown below, but the entire article should be read by every Oregonian.  

 Lake Oswegans should know that our city has designated Wildland-Urban Interface areas that may be impacted by the new Wildfire Prevention codes. All Oregonians should check their city or county Natural Hazard Maps,  

INTERVIEW: Oregon’s Failed Wildfire Hazard Map Reveals a Wider Scandal

Restoration News:  SEP 03, 2025

Jeff Reynolds

We generally assume (correctly) that whatever comes out of the state is reliably nutty and leftist, and can be ignored in favor of poring over the news from swing states. A massive bureaucracy, far-left judges, and machine politicians thrive in that lack of scrutiny, creating a dominant power structure that crushes opposition.

That ecosystem has created a lack of transparency and a culture of unresponsiveness. It is in that culture that the Oregon Wildfire Hazard Map was born. 

The rest of America needs to take a lesson from this sordid affair, because these types of things happen a lot more often than most realize. One data scientist tried to analyze the product commissioned by the state legislature and got completely shut out when he attempted to make inquiries into the process. Along the way, he revealed the state of Oregon as guilty of either deliberate manipulation or gross incompetence. This project threatened the property values, insurability, and habitability of thousands of homes across the state.

This whole thing goes back to the 2021 session of the Oregon Legislature. That year, they passed Senate Bill 762, which then-Gov. Kate Brown (D-Portland) signed into law.

 ODF states the purpose of the wildfire hazard map on its website:

The wildfire hazard map's purposes are to:

• Educate Oregon residents and property owners about the level of hazard where they live.
• Assist in prioritizing fire adaptation and mitigation resources for the most vulnerable locations.
• Identify where defensible space standards and home hardening codes will apply.

One computer scientist in southern Oregon was personally affected by the fire hazard maps, with his home placed in the high-risk zone.  What Kauwe discovered left him furious. "What I found is straight up corruption or negligence," he said in an interview with Restoration News. "Either way, not a good look." He was alarmed not only with the errors he found in the state's computer modeling, but also with their response.

Kauwe has assembled all of his information into a professional format, similar to the reports he produces at his day job. He published all of it at a website that any homeowner can use as a reference.

To drive the point home, he went so far as to learn how to use Geographic Information System (GIS) software to produce his own maps, similar to the process used by the state.

OTHER LINKS

Oregon Department of Forestry 

Letter to high-risk property owners

DOF Wildfire Website

Dept. of Forestry Laws (See 476.301, 392)

(Draft) Defensible Space Codes for Landowners

 

Blue State Boondoggles Bumped!

 From X:

Post

Conversation

Russ Vought

@russvought

Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left's climate agenda is being cancelled. More info to come from

@ENERGY

. The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA

11:09 AM · Oct 1, 2025

·

5.8M

Views