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Last week, we combed through Multnomah County property tax records and found the owners who owed the most in back taxes (”Chasing Ghosts: Property Tax Debts,” WW, Feb. 15). We listened to their stories and got a microeconomic view of the local economy. The bottom line is, many property owners are behind because of the pandemic, when work from home prompted companies to drop leases on office towers. Others, like the SureStay hotel downtown, faltered because Portland went from being an obsession for The New York Times travel section to a Maoist hellscape on Fox News. Readers had sympathy for some of our subjects and disdain for others. Rome fell in part because it couldn’t collect taxes to pay for its empire. Taxes pay for civilization. Here’s what readers said:
ANITA BATH, VIA WWEEK.COM: “I mean, I look around and I think, man, the taxes we do pay have really resulted in a nice place to live. What could we do with 10% more? Imagine the utopia that would be created!”
I’M_NOT_A_ROBOT, VIA WWEEK.COM: “Tax cheats and large corporations that pay no taxes should get onerous interest rates and fines imposed, and if they refuse to pay, the state should seize their property for the benefit of the people of Oregon.
“That is all pretty obvious, and it is more than fair given the tax write-offs, the ‘opportunity zones,’ and the offshoring of profits by tax cheats so that they just disappear. Yet, just look at the pro tax-cheat posters here. They are setting the stage for a defunding of our state and our community to where we would resemble Mississippi or, worse, some two-bit authoritarian regime where corruption is rife and allowed to continue unchecked, a true class society where a tiny group controls everything.”
ENTROPYGENERATOR, VIA WWEEK.COM: “Property taxes in Portland are a hot mess with real, long-term financial consequences for many people. There is no rhyme or reason for what property tax rates are compared to current market values of homes.”
KURT CHAPMAN, VIA WWEEK.COM: “This is me not saying, ‘I told you so.’ One hundred nights of mostly peaceful rioting and looting has consequences. Rampant, unabated blue tarps, spent needles and human waste have consequences, failure to prosecute criminal actions have consequences. People, be they locals or tourists, refuse to enter Portland in general. Expect it to get worse, despite the protestations of the usual suspects.”
MT. HOOD, VIA WWEEK.COM: “So, business owners who don’t pay their property taxes are ‘deadbeats,’ but tenants who don’t pay their rent and drug zombies who attack pedestrians are ‘victims.’ Umkay, that’s so Portland…”
ANDREW REA, VIA FACEBOOK: “There seem to be a lot of abandoned properties in this town which owners are just sitting on without subletting, leasing, or selling. The city of Portland should penalize these owners in some way for sitting on these properties for so long.”
REDSHIFT, VIA WWEEK.COM: “I totally think people choosing, en masse, to not pay a corrupt government which either wastes, pockets, or abuses its power to tax is an entirely valid and very, very effective thing to do. In fact, this entire country was formed by pretty much doing exactly that.”
Correction
An item in “Reasons to Love Portland Night Now” (WW, Feb. 8) incorrectly reported that the Breakfast on Bridges event rotates between bridges. In fact, the event occurs simultaneously on several bridges each month. The story also credited the event to the nonprofit Shift2bikes, which no longer runs it. WW regrets the errors.
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