Measure 84: Kevin Mannix's Tax Break for Millionaires
SHARE:
Initiative profiteer Kevin Mannix is back with another bad idea: Creating a massive tax break for millionaires by ending Oregon's Estate Tax.
It's another terrible idea from a man who's made a comfortable living by pushing bad ideas onto Oregonians. Here are answers to some Frequently Asked Questions about Measure 84:
How much would this measure cost our schools and health care services?
Eliminating Oregon’s Estate Tax would cost our schools, senior care, public safety, and other priority services more than $240 million every two years. That's the equivalent of laying off 1,200 K-12 teachers.
But it gets even worse. Measure 84 contains an additional new tax break that would allow wealthy households to avoid paying capital gains taxes entirely. This would result in hundreds of millions of dollars slashed from our schools, senior services, and public safety.
Who would benefit?
This is a massive tax break that only benefits the heirs of millionaires. Oregon’s Estate Tax only applies to estates worth more than $1 million. This tax break would only apply to less than 750 of the richest estates each year, while forcing cuts to schools and services that middle-class families depend on.
Why is this tax break a bad idea?
Measure 84 would force deeper cuts to our K-12 schools, long-term care for seniors, and public safety systems, while providing a massive tax break to a small handful of millionaire households.
Large corporations and the rich already have too many tax breaks and loopholes that let them avoid paying their fair share. In the past five years, Oregon legislators have cut K-12 school funding by 5%, while the amount the state gives way in tax breaks has increased by 12%. (See Oregon Tax Expenditure Report, page 5)
At a time when middle-class families are struggling, we shouldn’t give away more critical tax dollars to the rich.
Will this tax break help preserve family farms?
No. While the proponents of this tax break claim that it will help family farms, the measure does nothing to help them. Family-owned farms and other family-owned natural resource properties worth up to $7.5 million can already get a tax credit from the State of Oregon that wipes out their entire Estate Tax liability. (See the Legislative Revenue Office's Basic Facts document, section F1-F5)
This is only about creating new tax loopholes for the very rich.
Who’s behind this measure?
You won’t see his name in the list of chief petitioners, but the main proponent of this measure is initiative profiteer Kevin Mannix. Mannix has used a network of front groups to hide the sources of funding for this measure, and all of the money for signature gathering has gone to a firm that he owns.
Add comment
Receive our daily news clips!
Email jenny@ouroregon.org to be added to our daily news clips list.
Comments
Most of these comments obviously have come from people who possibly have never dealt with the "Death" tax. What people are failing to take into account is the number of small businesses we have in this state. Businesses that have paid their fair share of taxes over the years (property, and income), and these people who are against this repeal want the estate to pay again. Do you people even know how the death tax works?
Do your home work. There is a final tax that is levied against the deceased (ie income tax for those of you who don't know), and yes in Oregon the first million of the estate is except. But for the estate that is over that threshold, it is hit with a $50,000.00 minimum plus 10-18% for every dollar there after.
And before anyone starts saying I don't know what I am talking about I do.
I was just hit with $200,000.00 in estate tax by the state of Oregon. My mom wasn't "Rich", she was a small business owner who also paid estate tax on the business and the property when she got it from my grandfather. This tax can and has killed small business before.
Save your own money punk
Measure 84 passing will allow my family to inherit the family farm. If this doesn't pass my husband (who has lived on this farm his whole life) and our family will have to move. How is that fair? Has anyone ever heard the expression land rich and money poor?
Another example of double-taxation, unfair taxation and class warfare. For someone that has been fortunate enough to be employed for 35 years, couldn't afford to attend college, so went into military, got out and went to college on GI bill, scrimped, sacrificed and saved to amass a nest egg for retirement, paid taxes on all of the earnings that went into savings, paid capital gains tax on earnings and interest on those savings, and now look forward to heirs having to pay more taxes on inheritance, this is blatantly unfair. If a person is not so lucky or irresponsible to spend lavishly instead of saving, I can see why they'd want other people to pay their taxes.
When has big business ever taken advantage of a tax loophole or moving off-shore to get out of paying taxes or shut down a business that was making a profit just because the profit wasn't high enough. Come on! If your uncle passes and leaves you $5000.00, government would give you the same consideration they give millionaires. Right? I mean the reason we are in this economic mess is because big business has done everything it could to keep America strong and keep Americans working. Right?
We all pay taxes on our income. An inheritance is just another form of income.
HOWEVER, Oregon state does exempt the first $1 million on an estate. So, if your uncle leaves behind $5000? That's tax-free.
notice that the total of the taxes is added over 2 years
that so you dont notice that the taxes collected are less than 100 million a year
1 days worth of the state budjet
the estate tax is waste of money and time and puts undo stress on people during a trying time in their lives
the farm credit is wrong as well..sure it covers farm property but it lets all personal items go over the exemtion limit and forces tax to paid anyway
its a state gimmick
Somehow I don't think I'm going to trust statistics from the guy who spells budget "budjet", and says "undo stress" instead of "undue stress", and spells exemption "exemtion".
Very inaccurate. Targets for the death tax are family businesses and people who have saved over a lifetime. When you punish them, the economy suffers. Think twice before you write.
I find it disturbing that our state is even considering this estate tax removal. Its not fair to our state to allow these 'elite' to skate by without paying there fair share of taxes, while our schools year after year have their budget cut.
Why should people be penalized for being successful. If I build up wealth and leave it to my children, why should the government get to take that money that I have worked hard to save?
Scott,
As you know, in spite of the claim of the first anon. comment above, historically up to half of assets that come under the estate tax are stocks and bonds, etc, whose appreciation has NEVER been taxed. The estate tax is the last and only opportunity for a fair share of taxes to be paid on them at all.
Scott, I believe you've a couple of errors here.
While somewhat more than 1000 estate file estate taxes each year, for a variety of reasons, from passing significant assets to the spouse to charitable giving, end of life and estate settling costs, only about 60-65% of filers pay any tax.
Thus, we estimate that only 730 estates will pay estate tax in the typical year.
Secondly, your explanation of the natural resource credit isn't accurate unless the estate has no assets that are not part of the business. This is highly unlikely. Cars, IRA accounts and other savings exist in most estates.
Scott, I saw you and Kevin debating this issue on KATU this morning. Thank you for bringing up the fact that our schools ARE in crisis and that they have been hit double with the reduction of funds. On another note, it irritates me when people talk about fairness when the middle class is taxed the most. When is "fairness" coming for the middle class? If our tax system really was fair, we wouldn't need this tax. However, now is not the time to get rid of this tax.