BLOG: “We feel like tax milk cows..."

Earlier this year, Commissioner Dan Saltzman and I introduced an ordinance to lower the local business tax burden by raising the Owner’s Compensation Deduction from $75,000 to $125,000. 

We have not succeeded ...Yet.

Today I visited another local business that illustrates again why Dan and I need to keep trying…

“We feel like tax milk cows; we work seven days a week; we have over $3 million invested in our facility and equipment and the City says we only get $75,000 or a 2.5 percent annual return on our investment before they tax us,” said Don Riddle, President of Portland-based, Applied Plastics Machining based in Southeast Portland.  The Riddle’s business employs 16 workers.

Riddle and his spouse, Karen, recently called my office asking me to tour their facility and hear there concerns.  They are just now feeling an up tick in business after 5 years of recession. 

The Riddles are concerned that City Hall will prematurely declare victory over the recession, and impose more taxes.  They want a tax reduction.  They feel like they can build their business to be more competitive if they had a business tax reduction. 

“It seems like businesses are disliked in Portland,” says Don.  “Maybe its not true, but it seems like their real passion is for finding news ways to get money out of us, not really helping us.”

“If my wife and I were 20 years younger, we would move our business out of Portland,” says Riddle.  “As it is now, I’m 60-years-old, we will probably sell it and retire.” 

“When we retire, we are moving out of Portland,” says Riddle.  “There is no way I want to inherent the costs of the fire and police pension system.”

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