News As someone once said, there are only two guarantees in life: death and screwing up your taxes. At least, that’s what I’ve been told. I’m a 29-year-old man who still sends his 1099 to his dad and   More

News Newly proposed green-energy tax credits in Oregon are prompting watchdog groups to warn that the measure is a warmed-up version of a discredited idea. And the tax watchdogs blasting the proposal f   More

Cover Story For three decades we have conducted a massive economic experiment   More

News As the April 18 tax filing deadline rapidly approaches, many Oregonians are looking forward to refunds. But some of them, chances are, will fall into a trap more costly than taking out a payday loan.  The Portland advocacy group, Economic Fairness Oregon, has looked into what are called Refund Anticipation Checks. Such checks are effectively a way for cash-strapped taxpayers to borrow the cos...   More

News U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) took a strong stance last month as an opponent of the tax deal President Obama made with Republicans.Rest assured, the Lane County Democrat is still mad about the deal and its impact on the deficit. DeFazio took to the House floor yesterday to blast the deal as well as to excoriate Republicans for walling off the Pentagon from consideration of cuts.Here's his speec...   More

News Before he retired from The New York Times in 2008, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter David Cay Johnston (above) spent nearly enough time here reporting on Texas Pacific and other utility matters to be considered an honorary Oregonian. Johnston, also a best-selling author, continues to write about his specialty—taxes—and the many ways that wealthy individuals and large corporations...   More

News U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) has never been shy about opposing the Obama administration despite the fact Obama is the Democratic candidate DeFazio supported in his party's 2008 presidential primaries. So perhaps it's no big surprise there's a report out today from CBS News that DeFazio is already one of the House Democrats signing this letter being circulated among House Democrats by Re...   More

News U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) has joined Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) in the revolt by House Democrats against President Obama's tax deal. Wu's office said this morning that Wu—who supported Obama in the 2008 presidential primaries—has signed the letter circulated by Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in opposition to the deal Obama made with House Republicans. UPDATE: “Investing in...   More

News U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenuaer (D-Ore.) has become the third House Democrat from Oregon to oppose President Obama's tax deal. In urging the president to in essence show some backbone in dealings with Republicans, Blumenauer joins with Reps. Peter DeFazio and David Wu as opponents of Obama's deal with the GOP. UPDATE: And U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader has become the fourth of Oregon's four House Dem...   More