Oregon taxes are low compared to other states

Ah, vindication. Confirmation. An Oregonian story: "Oregon tax burden remains in bottom third of states, new report says."

No matter how you slice or dice the numbers, Oregonians bear a smaller tax burden than people in most other states, according to a new state report.

When all charges are considered, including federal taxes and fees, Oregon's share was $7,663 per person in 2008, the latest numbers available. That ranks 33 out of 50 states.

...Warner's staff has looked at the impact of the tax increases imposed by last year's measures 66 and 67. "It didn't change the relative rankings," Warner said.

That's what I've been saying. Oregon is not a high tax state (see here, here, here, and here).

Will this stop the lies of Lars Larson, Victoria Taft, and other right-wing talk show hosts in this state? No.

But now it's clearer than ever that they're not telling the truth when they rant about high taxes driving businesses out of Oregon.

Comments

[Brian]

It looks like this survey is based on total doller amounts of taxes, not percentage of total income. Are the conclusions still true when taking into account Oregonian`s lower aerage incomes, compared to the nation?

[Blogger Brian]

Brian, if you click on the "state report" link in my post, you can read the actual report. On page A2 and A3 the authors calculated figures based on percentage of total income instead of raw dollars. See:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/lro/2011_publications_reports/2011_BasicFacts.pdf

The rankings turned out about the same. Oregon ranks #32 among the 50 states in state and local taxes paid as a percentage of personal income, while we are #33 in state and local taxes paid viewed in raw dollar figures.

So either way, Oregon still in the lower third of states. We are indeed a low tax state.

Here's what the study says:
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Oregon’s rankings change slightly in different directions depending on the category. For the major summary categories, Oregon ranks slightly higher when the percentage of personal income measure is used. This is not surprising given that Oregon’s per capita personal income is below the national average. However, the state’s tax ranking falls slightly, from number 42 to number 44, compared to the per capita measure. This is due to the combination of states with a similar tax burden. For the other categories, the expected pattern holds. For example, miscellaneous revenue at 2.7% of personal income, ranks number 6 among the states compared to number 9 on a per capita basis.