Oregon's minimum corporate excise tax is $10 per year. This applies to all corporations regardless of income or activity. There has been an effort in recent legislative sessions to increase this minimum. Here is some information you might find interesting.
When the corporate excise tax was created in Oregon in 1929, the minimum was $25. The 1931 Legislature decreased it to $10 for tax years beginning in 1932 where it remains today.
Compare this to California. California has a minimum Franchise Tax (similar to excise tax, paid for the privilege of doing business in the state) of $800 per year.
If you look at the corporate tax rate from years past and compare it to today, you will find the real problem.
Oregon's corporate tax structure consists of a flat rate of 6.6% on all corporate income. Among states levying corporate income taxes, Oregon's rate ranks 30th highest nationally.
State and local taxes on businesses in Oregon were the 47th lowest in the nation as a percent of private sector economic activity in 2005 according to the study published by a national business lobby group. As a share of all state and local taxes, business taxes in Oregon ranked 50th among the states and the District of Columbia.
Oregon ranks 10th in the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index. The Index compares the states in five areas of taxation that impact business: corporate taxes; individual income taxes; sales taxes; unemployment insurance taxes; and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property. Neighboring states ranked as follows: Washington (11th), Idaho (32nd), Nevada (4th) and California (45th).
Obviously Oregon could bring in some limited new revenue by increasing the corporate minimum tax, but the real problem lies with the corporate tax rate.
Corporations don't pay tax. If anything they are tax-collectors, that's all. Any tax burden they may acquire is simply passed on to the users of their goods and services. That fact makes all the discussion and statistics moot.
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Oregon's corporate tax structure consists of a flat rate of 6.6% on all corporate income. Among states levying corporate income taxes, Oregon's rate ranks 30th highest nationally.
State and local taxes on businesses in Oregon were the 47th lowest in the nation as a percent of private sector economic activity in 2005 according to the study published by a national business lobby group. As a share of all state and local taxes, business taxes in Oregon ranked 50th among the states and the District of Columbia.
Oregon ranks 10th in the Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index. The Index compares the states in five areas of taxation that impact business: corporate taxes; individual income taxes; sales taxes; unemployment insurance taxes; and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property. Neighboring states ranked as follows: Washington (11th), Idaho (32nd), Nevada (4th) and California (45th).
Obviously Oregon could bring in some limited new revenue by increasing the corporate minimum tax, but the real problem lies with the corporate tax rate.