It is true, Oregon is the ONLY state in the union that has a law like THE KICKER.
This law was first passed by Oregon voters in 1980 and was later put into the Oregon Constitution. Any repeal of the Kicker law would require a vote of Oregon voters.
What this law does. Oregon has a balanced-budget amendment and the kicker is an extension. This law requires that any surplus state revenue be returned to taxpayers when revenue exceeds projections by 2 percent or more. A big problem with this law is that when the economy is coming out of a recession, the state economist has to be careful in projecting state revenue and often times this is when the Kicker, kicks. Money has been sent back to Oregon taxpayers and businesses instead of either being set aside in a Rainy Day fund or instead of being able to reinvest after a recession in state services.
In the 2011 Legislative session, law makers reformed the kicker a bit. Instead of checks being sent back to Oregonians, kicker refunds will be issued as tax credits on Oregon State income tax.
Many would like to see Kicker reform. There has been a lot of talk about reforming the Corporate Kicker and redirecting the funds from it to a Rainy Day fund.
This law was first passed by Oregon voters in 1980 and was later put into the Oregon Constitution. Any repeal of the Kicker law would require a vote of Oregon voters.
What this law does. Oregon has a balanced-budget amendment and the kicker is an extension. This law requires that any surplus state revenue be returned to taxpayers when revenue exceeds projections by 2 percent or more. A big problem with this law is that when the economy is coming out of a recession, the state economist has to be careful in projecting state revenue and often times this is when the Kicker, kicks. Money has been sent back to Oregon taxpayers and businesses instead of either being set aside in a Rainy Day fund or instead of being able to reinvest after a recession in state services.
In the 2011 Legislative session, law makers reformed the kicker a bit. Instead of checks being sent back to Oregonians, kicker refunds will be issued as tax credits on Oregon State income tax.
Many would like to see Kicker reform. There has been a lot of talk about reforming the Corporate Kicker and redirecting the funds from it to a Rainy Day fund.
| kicker.pdf |
