Payroll tax negotiations open amid optimism

January 18th, 2012

WASHINGTON (AP) — Negotiations to renew a payroll tax cut for 160 million workers and jobless benefits for millions more kicked off on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with both sides optimistic of an agreement despite last year’s bitter battles over President Barack Obama’s jobs proposals.

The House-Senate talks will focus chiefly on finding ways to finance the $10 billion a month cost of a 2 percentage point cut in Social Security payroll taxes that awards a worker making a typical $50,000 salary a tax cut of about $20 a week. Lawmakers also need to pay for the $45 billion or so cost of renewing jobless benefits for people out of work for more than half a year and the $20 billion a year cost of making sure doctors aren’t hit with massive cuts to their Medicare payments.

Negotiators face a Feb. 2

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Tags: Payroll Tax, Tax

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How the Legislature changed property tax deferrals

July 5th, 2011

Most of the changes, which will affect property tax payments starting in November, make qualifying for the program more difficult.

The program, which the Legislature created in the 1960s, allows qualifying seniors and people with disabilities to defer paying property taxes while theyre living in their homes. The state pays their property taxes and charges interest. As participants leave the program or sell their homes, they repay the money and interest.

“The poor economy and struggling housing market resulted in more program participation but less capacity to pay. The Legislature had to make pretty deep changes to the program to bring things into balance,” said program manager Bram Ekstrand.

The changes include:

Household income and personal net worth limits. Home value limits. Proof of homeowner’s insurance. A five-year minimum home occupancy. How i

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Tags: Property Tax, Tax

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Eugene rejects 5% restaurant tax

January 31st, 2011

By Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association,

Eugene City Council soundly rejected a proposed five percent restaurant tax after hearing opposition from five local restaurant owners and an ORLA representative. Additionally, a few private citizens who recognized the unfairness and hardships that such a measure would impose on both local customers and struggling operators also provided testimony at the January 11, 2011 meeting.

After the public comment period, all seven out of eight Eugene City Council members present stated their rejection of the tax idea.

The prepared food tax proposal, along with city income tax proposals were promoted by a local organization of parents and educators called Stand for Children, which was formed to address a multimillion dollar budget shortfall projected for two school districts in Eugene.

In the end, the Council decided to form a committee to discuss non-restaurant tax proposals to ultimately have on the May ballot.

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Tags: Restaurant Tax, Tax

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Get Ready for Tax Filing Season, Part 2 — New Laws & Credits that Impact 2010 Returns

January 17th, 2011

To coin an old phrase:

“Death, taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them.”(Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind).

This might be true, but you can at least alleviate some of the burden of tax season by doing some preparation in advance. For the small business owner, this means taking the time to maintain good records, understanding what tax deductions you may be eligible for, and taking steps to prepare for the January wage reporting season (see Part 1).

But it also means familiarizing yourself and your employees with what’s new for the 2010 filing season. In a busy year for legislation (which brought us the Affordable Care Act, the Small Business Jobs Act, and the continued impact of the Recovery Act) a great deal did change in terms of tax credits and laws. <

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Tags: Tax, Tax Filing

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