Kitzhaber signs tax guarantee sought by Nike
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Gov. John Kitzhaber has signed legislation requested by athletic-wear giant Nike Inc., in exchange for expanding in Oregon.
The governor's signature on Tuesday gives him authority to promise Nike that the state won't change the method of calculating its taxes. State lawmakers approved the legislation during a special session on Friday.
"I thank the Oregon Legislature for a job well done," the governor said in a statement released Tuesday. "Faced with extraordinary opportunity to boost Oregon's economy, we have acted quickly to secure significant investment and high wage jobs. Even under sever time pressure, the Legislature allowed for an effective public process while deliberating with civility and respect. It's a big day for Oregon and our commitment to get Oregonians back to work."
Kitzhaber and Nike have not yet signed a contract making the agreement official and laying out specific requirements.
Oregon calculates taxes for multistate corporations based only on the company's in-state sales. Nike wants a guarantee that it won't later be taxed on its payroll expenses if it hires hundreds more workers.
This is probably illegal. I looked at the details.
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The two points is that it disallows future legislatures to change the contract for 30 years which interferes with the sovereignty of each legislature.
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The other is that this creates unequal taxes and special rates for large businesses.
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My hope is that both of these are challenged in court and this is overturned.
@RalphCramden I especially like the fact that they have negotiated it, in secret, since the summer - *And* are refusing to show the non-disclosure agreement between the state and NIKE.
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Worst. Govenor. Ever.
The rich get richer and the poor have to absorb the tax burden.
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We should start a law to reverse the law the legislature passed. That would fix Nike.
To leverage the State's poor economic climate for a 30-year no change tax guarantee for a single business is poor public policy. All states started down a slippery slope when they began competing with each other by offering individual businesses tax breaks. Now Governor Blue Jeans has decided that writing tax policy business by business is good policy? Writing tax policy business by business is a recipe for inequitable taxation that will likely lead to greater burdens on individuals. What is even more disappointing than Governor Rerun's proposal is the fact that the legislature signed off on it. A sad day indeed for Oregon and Oregonians.
So what is it you old left wing loon?
Do lower taxes benefit the economy or not?
Your actions here belie the rest of your agenda.
Economical rape of the people of Oregon.
What a clown.
Shutting down the gillnet fleet, doing nothing about the pers issue But isn't he pro business?
NO!  im shocked!   hope they dont mess with my sweet pers!  altho there is a ton of wiggle room   hahahaha thank you !
What less could we expect from Kitzgrabber? The ORYGUN DOJ named him that and of course he started an investigation. Give NIKE a huge tax break while you go after PERS recipients that choose to live out-of-state for a damn good reason!!
Corporate welfare.
As PERS drives Oregon down the toilet the Gobinator cuts deals to give tax breaks to the rich and soon will be trying to make it up with taxes everyone not rich...
 @FreedomRocks And PERS is the problem because you believe everything you have heard & read by Leftist mediums?Â
 @FreedomRocks If he's giving a tax break to the rich, wouldn't that make him a Republican?
@pdxd ........it makes him a hypocrite. Which those of us who didn't vote for him, already knew.
i sure would like to see the language in the bill. I have a hunch that since the state has been very vague with details, there is a lot more to it than simiple rate guarantees.
 @kramr Me thinks you work for a law firm based on your language structure, but I could be wrong since you live in West Linn...
@boned @kramr  wrong on both counts :)  I do live in the burbs, just not WL.
 @kramr Like kickbacks to politicians?
@Mipsfer    """""Like kickbacks to politicians?"""""
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I'd bet the kickbacks are more invisible, say like promised campaign donations or something like that.
Now that Nike has gotten the Governor and Legislature to "cow tow" to their wishes, and in exchange they are going to add jobs to Oregon for this little benefit, right? Anyone want to bet that no reporter, TV station or Newspaper, will ask any questions in a year from now like, "Tell me Mr. Knight, how many jobs have you added in the last years since you shafted the tax payers????" Cowards!Â
@yabadabadone How have the taxpayers been shafted by the Governor promising not to do something that no one was talking about doing anyway? This is exactly what a republican governor would have done. Blasting him for it just shows that you're only interested in democrat bashing, not evaluating how his actions mesh with your political beliefs on a case by case basis.
 @Vince009  @yabadabadone  Exactly. Nike employs thousands of people in this state, and most of the jobs pay well. If the Governor had not done this, they would all be crying bloody murder because the state would lose thousands of well-paying jobs. If the point is that, for tax purposes, huge employers like Nike and Intel are treated differently, then all I can say is DERP! What did you think? All big companies are treated like this. You come into town, set up shop, employ a ton of people and pay them well so the state can tax their paycheck and we will give you a break on your taxes. Otherwise, they go to the state willing to make that deal and we get zero taxes from Nike and zero taxes from the paychecks of the thousands it employs. We already lost Boeing.Â
There is no difference between Repubs and Demo's! Nike received a guarantee, did the burger joint down the street get the same consideration? The Builder, The Butcher the Candlestick maker"? Nope! Only Nike! I for one am sick of all of these stinking politicians pick their "pets". When the taxes increase, ya know their gonna, only Nike can sit back and say to all other business owners "Sucks to be you!"
@Festivus @yabadabadone  I believe you are correct, while the special conditions are available to any business, I think however the conditions (i.e. hire X number of workers, invest $Y dollars, within this time frame, etc)  are so narrow that for all pracitical purposes a bill for Nike.
 @yabadabadone Actually, any company willing to invest $150M and create 500 jobs gets the same break (at least, that's the last version I heard).
Governor, Kitzhaber ran manufacturer after manufacturer out of this state. And economically ruined Oregon families. Business after business had to leave - because our progressive governors didn't care to try to keep any of them in this state.Â
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Families in Oregon decimated. Ruined. Economically tanked town and counties in our state - still to this day on the federal dole - because of Kulongoski and Kitzhaber's punitive anti renewable logging and ANTI- ECONOMIC STIMULUS agenda.Â
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And this shell game spielmeister of a "leader" of this state wants us all to congratulate him - about "this" job well done - on behalf of a grotesquely profitable corporation that refuses to pony up its fair share of corporate taxes to this state and to this state's operating budget. Ah, Guv - say what again - about you self congratulating yourself. Really. Â
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Sooooo John Kitzhaber exactly who will get their taxes raised as a consequence of you refusing to up the taxation rate of Nike? Seeing how the costs of operating this state will go up next year? Probably me and mine - and my neighbor, you dishonest deflecting hypocrite leader, you. But then what does John Kitzhaber "care". Ever.Â
 @englishdaisy So he is darned if he does and darned if he doesn't. That is all I got from your post. If he let Nike leave, thousands of Oregon families would be economically ruined or decimated. Oregon would experience a huge net loss in revenue with all that payroll tax leaving (thousands of well-paying jobs) and with not many places for these people to go, they would end up on unemployment. This is in addition to the taxes that Nike pays. The net loss would be huge.Â
So why did they let Columbia Sports Wear move out of town without some sort of incentive to stay?Â
Oh, silly me! Nike has the bigger club!
Just shaking my head....
I'm kinda confused. Obama wants to increase taxes on the rich. Kitzhaber, who is cut from the same cloth, wants to reduce taxes for certain corporations who are rich.
 @Rob C 503  It is relatively simple: Nike put Oregon over a barrel, threatening to move and take with it not only its tax dollars, but THOUSANDS OF WELL-PAYING JOBS. The net loss in revenue would be huge. Just the payroll tax alone for thousands of well-paying jobs is huge. Not to mention those people would likely end up on unemployment, significantly increasing the number of unemployed in Oregon. Finally, just like the president, a governor does not act alone.
 @Hondo  @Rob C 503 Not to mention the additional revenue coming in from more payroll taxes of the newly created 500 (or more) well paying jobs, and taxes on Nike's in-state revenue. For those of you that seem to think it's a tax break, well I guess it's all in how you read it. It call this a tax freeze, not a tax break. All it does is guarantee their taxes won't increase but instead will stay at the same percentage that they are currently paying, not the same dollar amount.
 @Rob C 503 Exactly! And they are going to blame the GOP for this one!
 @washcomom  @Rob C 503 "THEY", otherwise referred to as our progessive state leaders- will have to raise the individual tax payer rates. Seeing how progressives have already colluded and plotted and planned and broadcast their PROMISE that next years operating budget for this state will require MORE tax payer dollars from each of us little people. Not less. Because progressives only know how to expand out operating budgets. Not ratchet them back. Ever.Â
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Thanks a whole lot for ALL of that, liar liar pants on fire, John Kitzhaber. Costing me and my fellow Oregonians more in the coming years - while you bend over and "accomodate" grotesquely profitable Phil Knight - any time and all the time. Making danged well sure Nike never, ever has to pay a penny more to this state. Just because....