SALEM, Ore. — Oregon families should get an average of $284 dollars in tax rebates next year, state economists said Thursday, citing a strong economy and a bump in job growth.
Economists say the rebates will totally nearly $473 million, or $123 million more than was predicted in February, when economists said taxpayers would receive nearly $350 million in tax rebates.
The steady economic improvements have led the state to collect slightly more than projected in both corporate and personal income taxes.
Unlike previous rebates, which used to be distributed as a check in the mail around Christmas, Oregonians will instead receive a tax credit and pay less when they file their returns in April 2016, said Josh Lehner, senior economist at the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis
“It’s a credit on the tax return so you don’t get the check in the mail, you just get lower taxes to pay in April,” he said.
Oregon’s one-of-a-kind “kicker” law is triggered when tax collections exceed projections by at least 2 percent. When that occurs, the unanticipated revenue gets kicked back to taxpayers as income tax credits. The last time Oregonians got a kicker was in 2007, when they got back a total of more than $1 billion after a booming economy brought in revenue more than 19 percent higher than expected.
The report of a strengthening economy drew optimism from lawmakers who said they’d invest some of the money in public education.
Gov. Kate Brown said in a statement that robust economic growth means an additional $100 million for schools, and Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum said at least 40 percent of the extra resources will be dedicated to the K-12 budget.
House Republican Leader Mike McLane, of Powell Butte, said while the revenue forecast was a sign the state’s economy was on the upswing, Democrats in the Legislature have been underfunding schools despite the additional revenue. In March, Democrats and Republicans butted heads over the education budget, with Republicans saying the state had plenty of money but that Democrats weren’t making education a high enough priority.
“The Legislature doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a leadership and priorities problem,” he said. “Oregon taxpayers know how to spend their money better than we do,” he added.
Despite the rosy outlook, news of the tax rebate drew chants and protests from students sitting in the committee hearing who wanted the money to be siphoned back into higher education. Shouting “the kicker has got to go,” a handful of students were escorted from the room, but continued their cries outside the doors while economists continued with their report.
