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OSPIRG Examines Tax Credits, Sees Little Benefit

By NIGEL JAQUISS

Approving tax credits is a little bit like continuing to drink after you know you've had enough—it seems like a good idea at the time but can be hard to justify in the cold light of sobriety.

OSPIRG (the Oregon Public Interest Research Group) took a look a four tax-credit programs lawmakers have green-lighted in recent years and that will cost taxpayers $300 million in 2011-13.

Below is a summary of what the credits yielded, according to OSPIRG's report. "BETC" refers to the Business Energy Tax Credit.

WWeek 2015