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 records to local or state appeals boards or courts claiming that a tax assessment is too high. The increase in appeals has significantly increased city and state debt because decreased property tax revenue means more pressure on local governments to cut services.

Nationally, revenue from property taxes rose 7.8 percent to $90.5 billion. The money was distributed by sending $87.7 billion to local governments and $2.8 billion to the states. Read more »

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 prohibit a tax day from falling on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. The year 2007 was the last time the IRS had to extend tax filing day.

The IRS estimates that as many as 9 million taxpayers will be impacted by this date change.

See story on CNN news here Read more »

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:

The 6-cent gas tax is now in effect. For drivers it will cost an additional $35 a year, but for businesses that rely on transportation will find it will cost several thousand. Read more »

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 Regional Multiple Listing Service. Another indicator of falling home prices is the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index which showed Portland home prices falling 1.3 percent in October from the previous month. Home sales dropped 28.7% in November according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service. The news story from KGW News below goes into greater detail: Read more »

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, the sticker is a miniature fold-out brochure.

The Oregonian: Read more »

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 Friday decreases in electronic prices and toys

Electronic manufacturers, especially flat screen TVs, are seeing slashing prices much more aggressively than holiday seasons past. Read more »

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 the rational brains of sports fans.” Read more »

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 positive news in Washington County shows means more jobs for the greater Portland area.

Nikes sees “record” growth, Intel sees “record” profits, ACS adds 450 jobs, Tektronix expands

Beaverton based Nike, Inc. rose to the highest since the company went public in 1980, beating some analyst’s estimates. Most of the sales growth were in North America and China. Sales from the Nike North American brand have increased 8 percent to $1.9 billion and Nike’s apparel sales rose 16 percent to $515 million. Sales in China are strong too, with an increase of 11 percent to $460 million. Orders of Nike products are up 23 percent in China. Nike has strong brand loyalty and as consumers have more dispensable income, they are choosing to use it on their products. Intel, which has a large presence in Washington County, set an all-time records for revenue and operating income in the third quarter with a net income of $3 billion. This is great news for the 15,000 Intel workers in Washington County.
Read more »

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’ age by 10 years, 70% of the time and the correct gender 90%.  Cameras with facial recognition software view how many people walk by, their attentiveness and their gender.

Signs that monitor customers:
Digital signage in Japan is growing in popularity and is expected to more than double this year. Japan has no specific laws that require notifying the onlookers that they are being photographed and their images could be stored.  A vending machine at East Japan Railway includes a camera but NEC Corp. says the digital signs are not capable of storing images, but it records information as text-based data. 

Digitizing in-store shopping
Retailers, faced with declining customer satisfaction and sales declining 15% each year, are increasingly looking for more options to sell, including interactive dressing rooms, virtual sales associates and even digital scanners that offer discounts to customers.  Customers are flocking to online shopping, where they get more information, including product information, customer reviews and items that other customers bought.  Essentially, shoppers have grown accustomed to higher expectations and retailers are looking for ways to make the in-store shopping experience more personal for the consumers.  Read more »

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 new battleground is the shopping mall as two giant firms are buying hundreds of spaces for a seasonal campaign.

Costco Wholesale Corp. recently announced that they are taking steps to add their stores to shopping malls, offering a “mini-mall” option to shoppers. The reversal of Costco’s traditional approach, which has been to expand to “off-mall sites” comes at a time when a number of malls are struggling due to the recession and losing their anchor stores, their largest tenants. With malls looking for alternatives, Costco is aggressively pursuing an expansion into spaces once occupied my department stores. With an average store sales of more than $100 million a year, Costco has the potential to help attract new shoppers to traditional malls. One challenge for Costco may be the lack of space, as older and new stores typically range from 143,000 to 205,000 square feet. Read more »