Property Tax Appeals Draining Cities and States By Oregon Small Business Association As Americans watched the real estate market decline 30.5 percent below the April 2006 peak, according to the 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller index , many homeowners decided to appeal their property tax rate. Property owners are appealing their taxes by submitting an appraisal and other […]

By Oregon Small Business Association; The IRS has moved Tax Day from April 15th to April 18th for 2011. The move is due to a holiday celebrated in the District of Columbia known as Emancipation Day. Emancipation Day falls on April 16th (a Saturday) but will be observed on April 15th (a Friday). IRS rules […]

Minimum wage: The Oregon Minimum wage is going up 10-cents from $8.40 to $8.50. It will cost employers a little over $200 for the average minimum wage employee. Six other states are raising their minimum wage including Washington which will be the nation’s highest at $8.67. The federal minimum wage rate is $7.25. Gas-tax increase: […]

By Oregon Small Business Association, Oregon foreclosures hit double digit drops in November (-13.37). The drop was slightly better than the national average, but for the year Oregon foreclosures were over 30% worse than the national average according to RealtyTrac. Additionally housing prices and housing sales dropped in the Portland Metro area according to the […]

By Oregon Small Business Association We have noticed two types of ads being used by The Oregonian and the Seattle Times that gaining expansive use. Seattle Times: During the election the Seattle Times used post-it note ads where the ad is a pealable sticker pasted on the front page of the newspaper. In this case, […]

Where Black Friday and holiday prices prices are trending By Oregon Small Business Association, This Black Friday and Holiday season prices have already witnessed huge drops in electronic goods and toys (as the Black Friday chart below shows). At the same time Americans will pay at the holiday dinner table with higher food prices. Black […]

AD WATCH By Oregon Small Business Association Media savvy NIKE has delivered an ad that goes to the heart of the James LeBron controversy. A controversy that one CBS Sports analyst said “The hatred of LeBron James is getting totally out of control. It’s starting to make people lose all sense of reality. It’s overwhelming […]

Washington County stealing the good job growth — or at least the good business headlines as of late By Oregon Small Business Association, While most of the state of Oregon suffers the effects of an economic slump, Washington County appears to be booming with new jobs, expanding companies and incentives for new businesses. The recent […]

Four new ad trends push limits of tech, privacy By Oregon Small Business Association New marketing strategies in Japan allow a vending machine to capture an image of the consumers, track gender and age and even offer a suggested drink.  NEC Corporation, the third largest computer display models, says it can accurately guess the consumers’ […]

Shopping Wars Intensify for Holiday Season By Oregon Small Business Association, Intensifying the upcoming holiday shopping season is the recent slide in back-to-school sales and the challenge of a tough economic climate. As a result, more retailers are starting to aggressively ramp up their efforts earlier to expand their image on the retail scene. The […]