Slow economic growth continues to wreak havoc on Oregon’s state budget. Absent new tax revenues, the Legislature will have to make further cuts to many state programs and services in the next budget cycle.

As Oregonians finish sending in their state income taxes, a new report released today by the Oregon Center for Public Policy finds that Oregon’s level of government spending per person is close to the national average and has remained constant, relative to income, in recent years.

What do grandparents raising children, foster parents, and single fathers have in common? They are the newest targets in the Bush administration’s war on the working poor.

Population increases and inflation raise the cost to the state of conducting the business of government from year to year. Population growth leads to increased demands for services, from more children in schools and more seniors in failing health to increased demands for police, agricultural extension services, and small business development assistance.

This tax season, a minimum wage worker who was employed full-time last year and raising one child will pay about $321 in state income taxes. That’s equivalent to the cost of about a month’s worth of food based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Pre-occupied with local budget woes, the anemic economic recovery, and the looming war, many Oregonians aren’t paying much attention to the President’s $1.6 trillion tax cut proposal, which includes exempting dividends from taxation and accelerating rate cuts passed in 2001. This is a mistake, because the proposal has profound implications for Oregon and the rest of the country.

A flood of Oregonians are not moving across the Columbia River to avoid Oregon’s income tax on capital gains, according to a new report released today by the Oregon Center for Public Policy. The report finds that Oregon’s tax on capital gains income does not influence migration to Clark County, Washington by Oregon’s wealthiest taxpayers.