OR Pass-through hurts all of us

When I hear about tax breaks for the wealthy, I feel it in my gut, not my head. It takes me a minute to figure out why they offend me so much. When I look at our seven principles, I realize  every one of them is touched. They degrade our democracy, our communities, and value the rich over the poor. 

Recently, Congress passed a Federal Tax Bill that favored wealthy individuals and corporations. One of the features of the Federal Tax Bill was something called a pass-through provision. The pass-through provision allows business owners to pass income through from a business to themselves as individual business owners. They then pay the lower personal rate on this income. The pass-through provides a huge tax cut for already wealthy people.
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There is lots of criticism of this new Federal Pass through -- but did you know Oregon has such a pass through already in our tax code! 

​The pass through was enacted here in 2013 as kind of a 'dress rehearsal' for the Federal Tax Bill!

We can't afford this. It's an expensive tax break for a not-so-wealthy state like Oregon. This one tax break costs us close to $300 million dollars per budget cycle in lost revenue. 69% of the recipients of Oregon's pass through tax break have incomes over $500,000. 23% of the tax cut go to those who make between $200,000 and $500,000. Come on, that is terrible!

As Oregon UU Voices for Justice Action of the Week: Let your Oregon legislature know that you oppose pass-through tax breaks.  Click here to let them know. 

​When I see $150 million in taxes lost to Oregon every year, I think of low-income students trying to go to college. Others might see pre-school cuts, or low-income housing lost. What do you see?

In Love and Faith,
Rev. Katie Larsell