By Oregon Small Business Association.

Oregon’s workforce is no longer the country’s most stoned, but is still got higher than in 2017. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association.

The carbon tax bill, HB 2020, also known as Carbon Cap-and-Trade would have a big price tag for Oregon small businesses and their customers. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association.

Oregon tax bill HB 2116 could threaten the survival of low income workers by adding an extremely restrictive compliance rule that would impact tens of thousands of occupational licenses holders.

Oregon is rated as one of the worst states for occupational licensing and the legislature is considering a tax bill that will make it even worse.

According to the Institute for Justice, 58 percent of low-income occupations have some sort of licensing requirement. For example, Oregon requires 140 days of training to become a manicurist. Cosmetology licenses in Oregon currently require seven additional months of training compared to the same license in Massachusetts.

HB 2116 makes tax compliance a licensing requirement.  This would disqualify workers who have tax problems. Everyone with an occupational license—manicurists, cosmetologists, real estate agents, lawyers, teachers—must “demonstrate” compliance with Oregon’s tax laws before they get their license or when they renew their license.  And, if the state determines someone is out of compliance, that person’s license can be revoked, meaning they can’t work in that occupation under HB 2116.

Those most likely to be out of compliance are struggling low-income workers who don’t have the resources to hire an accountant and may not have ability to navigate Oregon’s complex business and payroll tax environment. Under HB 2116, a simple mistake on a tax form or difficulties in paying an unexpectedly large tax bill can result in the loss of a job or an entire business

By Oregon Small Business Association.

Winemakers, brewmasters and the manufacturers of liquors who planned to debut new labels for national release in 2019 are finding those plans thwarted by the federal government shutdown. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association.

Federal officials shut down an Oregon man’s website that sold fake documents identity thieves could use to defraud innocent victims. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation

Job seekers beware. Scammers are after your money and your personal information. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation

An academic hit job by researchers from Denmark and the University of California at Berkeley suggest that companies such as Nike (Facebook, Apple, Google also cited) are taking advantage of so-called “tax havens” to cause billions of dollars of income go “missing.” Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association

The Bend Bulletin recently discovered that people buying gas and diesel at the pumps in Oregon have paid more than $17 million extra since 2016 to subsidize companies that produce low-carbon fuels. But the state Department of Environmental Quality has refused to release the names of the companies that reaped that government largesse through low-carbon fuel credits. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association

The Oregon Governor Kate Brown and Oregon Health Authority are seeking to raise $830 million in new sin taxes next year by paying higher taxes for their cigarettes, beer, and wine.   The tax would be be massive hit to consumers pocketbook and would seriously hurt local grocers — hurting smaller family owned grocers worse than bigger grocery chains.   Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association Foundation

Will Portland’s proposal to outlaw straws be an environmental milestone like Oregon’s historic bottle bill or will it be a public fiasco like the California coffee cancer label which became a national mockery and scientifically rebuffed by the state’s own Environmental Health Office? Read more »