Proposed Tobacco Tax Increase Will Simply Encourage More Smuggling
State legislatures across the country have piled on the tobacco taxes over the…
Read Blog DetailCategory: Tax and Budget
When Is a Tax Not a Tax?
Governor Kitzhaber wants you to drive less, and he knows that the best…
Read Blog DetailPress Release: Report Shows No Return on Investment for Portland Seed Fund
December 3, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: John A. Charles, Jr. 503-242-0900…
Read Blog DetailThe Governor’s Budget: Much More Than Beer Money
Governor John Kitzhaber released his proposed 2015-17 budget this week. Critics were quick…
Read Blog DetailPress Release: New Report Proposes Better Outcomes, Lower Costs for State and Local Governments Through User Fees
PORTLAND, Ore. – A new report released by Cascade Policy Institute suggests numerous…
Read Blog DetailScare Tactics Not Working in Road Tax Debates
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) recently issued a report describing the deteriorating…
Read Blog DetailKitzhaber’s “Clean Fuels Program” Is a Hidden Gas Tax
Many politicians on the West Coast have fallen in love with untested policies and programs they say will help solve global warming. Many of these policies are mind-bogglingly complicated. What, after all, is a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS), or clean fuels program? And how exactly do programs like “cap and trade” work? And, perhaps most importantly, how do these policies impact you, the consumer?
Read Blog DetailThe election is coming!: A discussion of Oregon’s 7 statewide ballot measures
Please join us for Cascade’s monthly Policy Picnic led by founder and senior policy analyst Steve…
Read Blog DetailCascade Policy Institute Gives Support to Measure 91
Cascade Policy Institute’s Board of Directors recently voted to support the latest marijuana…
Read Blog DetailNew Poll Shows 84% Percent of Oregonians Support Employee Choice
Eighty-four percent of Oregonians support allowing union employees to leave their union without…
Read Blog DetailA Prescription for Affordable Housing in Portland
A new issue faces Portland. City Hall is considering waiving development fees for developers of market-rate housing in the Old Town Chinatown district.
Read Blog DetailDo You Know Taxes Take 30% of Your Year?
If every penny earned since the beginning of the year went to pay…
Read Blog DetailUnderstanding Oregon’s Hidden Sales Tax on Energy
Please join us for Cascade’s monthly Policy Picnic led by Cascade Policy Institute President and CEO…
Read Blog DetailTriMet Finally Admits Rail Problems
Last week I wrote about the problems TriMet is having with its constantly…
Read Blog DetailMeet the New Tax Reform…Same as the Old Tax Reform
Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, fresh off his early October special legislative session “Grand…
Read Blog DetailWhich Is the Monster? Tax limitations, or the taxes they limit
A City Club of Portland research panel has concluded that property tax limitation…
Read Blog DetailThe ObamaCare Exchanges: Nowhere Near As Competent As the Post Office
By Sally C. Pipes What was the worst product launch in history? New…
Read Blog DetailWelfare Pays More Than Entry-Level Work in Most States
Welfare currently pays more than a minimum-wage job in 35 states, according to…
Read Blog DetailSurprise! Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Has Real Costs
By Erin Shannon In March, Portland’s City Council unanimously voted to enact mandatory…
Read Blog DetailHotel Proposal Is Pouring Good Money After Bad
Last week the Metro Council unanimously approved two resolutions in favor of subsidizing…
Read Blog DetailCan We Correct Oregon’s High Corrections Costs?
By Brandon Maxwell Behind Oregon’s cultural mystique lies a troubling truth: Compared with…
Read Blog DetailMore Money, Same Problems for Oregon Schools
By William Newell Oregon’s 2013 legislative session ended with the passage of the…
Read Blog DetailBlame Unions for High Prison Costs
By Brandon Loran Maxwell What’s not to love about Oregon? It’s green. It’s…
Read Blog DetailCorrection Costs and Fiscal Restraint Don’t Need to Be at Odds
By Brandon Maxwell The Founding Fathers emphasized the vital need for the rule…
Read Blog DetailDo You Still Trust the Government?
By John Glennon President Obama said it himself: “If people cannot trust the…
Read Blog DetailA Problem Bigger Than PERS
By Doug DeFilipps Education writer Betsy Hammond recently reported that, according to a…
Read Blog DetailMetro’s Open Space Levy: A Bait and Switch for Taxpayers
Since 1995, Metro has been steadily buying up thousands of acres of undeveloped…
Read Blog DetailShould Oregon Replace the Income Tax with a Sales Tax?
In 2007 Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed me to represent taxpayers on the legislatively…
Read Blog DetailThe Marketplace Fairness Act: Taxation Without Representation?
Congress is poised to raise taxes again, this time by allowing states to…
Read Blog DetailTime to Reset Oregon’s Budget and Recharge Our Economy: Facing Reality 2013
The Oregon legislature is struggling to balance the state budget while meeting the…
Read Blog Detail“Housing Fairness” Bill Is Unfair to Landlords
By Doug DeFilipps Ending “housing discrimination” against holders of Section 8 rent assistance…
Read Blog DetailCoalition Releases New ‘Facing Reality’ Budget Report
For Immediate Release April 8, 2013 PORTLAND, Ore. – Americans for Prosperity-Oregon and…
Read Blog DetailDon’t End Tax Increase Warnings
In the late 1990s Oregon voters approved measures that require envelopes containing certain…
Read Blog DetailTobacco Cessation or Just Increasing General Fund Revenue?
The Oregon legislature is once again trying to raise the cigarette tax, this…
Read Blog DetailWhere’s the Secret Tax for the I-5 Bridge Proposal?
On Monday, the Oregon Senate passed House Bill 2800, the new Interstate 5…
Read Blog DetailThe Wages of Sin Taxes
In a misguided attempt to save us from ourselves, Oregon legislators have become…
Read Blog DetailMandatory Sick Leave Hurts the Working Poor
By Marc Kilmer On March 6 the Portland City Council may vote on…
Read Blog DetailCharity’s Unseen Benefit: Protecting Civil Society from the State
By Benjamin Zycher Charities and other nonprofit institutions perform a vast array of…
Read Blog DetailOregon Legislature Should End Its General Fund Lottery Addiction
A state legislator from Milwaukie, Carolyn Tomei, has introduced a package of bills…
Read Blog DetailTax Certainty for Nike? “Just Do It” for All
Governor Kitzhaber has called a special session of the Oregon legislature to enact…
Read Blog DetailRaising Taxes Won’t Reduce the Deficit
With just weeks to go before America slides off the so-called Fiscal Cliff,…
Read Blog DetailThree Oregon Tax Measures: What They Would Do
With less than a week to go in this election cycle, Oregonians are…
Read Blog DetailMeasure 81 Would Take Salmon off the Table
By Thomas Dulcich and Michael Barton Oregonians are most fortunate to border the…
Read Blog DetailTaxpayers Should Be ReVolted by Green Business Subsidies
Last week another publicly subsidized “green business” company filed for bankruptcy in Portland….
Read Blog DetailLike Moths to the Flame
Recently, The Oregonian published a feature story about the Portland Seed Fund. This…
Read Blog DetailStatement on Oregon’s Measure 80 Ballot Initiative
PORTLAND, Ore- The eight members of Cascade Policy Institute’s Board of Directors have released the…
Read Blog DetailKathryn Hickok discusses the merits of the proposed Multnomah County Library taxing district measure
The League of Women Voters of Portland hosted a debate on local ballot…
Read Blog DetailWhy Can’t Portland’s Pension Problem Be Solved Voluntarily?
By Shane Young In 2008, the Portland public safety fund realized it had…
Read Blog DetailPortland’s Proposed “Arts Education Tax”― Why Creativity and Government Subsidies Are Fundamentally at Odds
By Shane Young The “Arts Education and Access Income Tax” proposed by Portland…
Read Blog DetailOregon Cosmetology Regulations Entangle Hair Braiders
By Shane Young Did you know you need a license to braid hair…
Read Blog DetailTaxmageddon Would Wreak Havoc on Oregon Taxpayers
By Sven R. Larson, Ph.D. By now, I am sure you have heard…
Read Blog DetailLower the Capital Gains Tax, Ignite Oregon’s Recovery
By Eric Revell As the state of Oregon struggles to ignite an economic…
Read Blog DetailOregon Lawmakers: Get Proactive on the Economy
Who wouldn’t want to live in the Pacific Northwest? According to the 2010…
Read Blog DetailSteve Buckstein interviewed about his commentary, Oregon’s Budget Transformation
We sat down with Senior Policy Analyst, Steve Buckstein, to talk about government trying to do efficiently that which it shouldn’t be doing at all. SEE THE VIDEO
Read Blog DetailOregon’s Budget Transformation
Governor John Kitzhaber has called for transforming state government, in part by proposing…
Read Blog DetailTear Down These Walls!
As a founder of Cascade, I was asked to speak at the fourth…
Read Blog DetailThe Day We the People Stood Up
By Trent England On April 19, 1775, a group of ordinary, small-town Americans…
Read Blog DetailOregon’s Economic Outlook Slips Again in 2012
Hit hard by the national recession, Oregon lawmakers started the regular 2011 legislative…
Read Blog DetailGovernment Anesthesia
Nobody likes pain, but we need it. This may sound counterintuitive or cruel…
Read Blog DetailTaking Work Personally: How Individual Accounts Reward Personal Responsibility
Recently, I had a long conversation with an owner of a bakery near…
Read Blog DetailSave the Mail! – Delivery to Slow as Debt Crisis Looms
I read with a tinge of dismay that the U.S. Postal Service is…
Read Blog DetailTo Save the Library, Don’t Leave Good Ideas on the Shelf
Sometime in the next three months, the Multnomah County commissioners will decide whether…
Read Blog DetailTaking Another Shot at the Profit Motive
The Occupy movement is encouraging people to take their money out of “big…
Read Blog DetailThe President’s Tax Proposal Would Cripple Charities
President Obama proposed once again that Congress reduce the federal itemized tax deduction…
Read Blog DetailWhen Does Theft Turn into Taxation?
The Occupy Wall Street/Occupy Portland crowds are demanding that “rich people” pay their…
Read Blog DetailThe Battle of the Book Worms: Who Should Pay for “Free” Public Libraries?
By Christopher Robinson, John A. Charles Jr., and Kathryn Hickok When Jackson County,…
Read Blog DetailOregon’s $392 Million Unemployment Mistake
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, almost $19 billion in state unemployment…
Read Blog DetailDrop the Envy Card: Wealth Grows From Serving Others
The politics of envy is alive and well. Too many Americans, including President…
Read Blog DetailUnemployment Insurance, Savings Accounts or Both? A Way Forward for Oregon’s Workers
One silver lining of the burst housing bubble has been the increase in…
Read Blog DetailThe Debt Downgrade Blame Game
Politicians and pundits upset that tax increases were not part of the recent…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles responds to attacks made by Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder and Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette
At the July 14, 2011 JPACT meeting, accusations were made about John Charles…
Read Blog DetailPortland’s Debt Isn’t Rosy
By Christopher Robinson The Federal Government isn’t the only one with a spending…
Read Blog DetailUnfunded Liabilities: Oregon’s Hidden Debt
By Michael Bastasch Congress is still debating raising the federal debt ceiling. This…
Read Blog DetailOregon’s Economic Outlook Continues to Slip
Hit hard by the national recession, Oregon lawmakers started the 2011 legislative session…
Read Blog DetailState Budget vs. Union Benefits
By Christopher Robinson Mediation continues in Salem between two major labor unions and…
Read Blog DetailJohn Charles Gives Legislature Issues to Work for Next Session
On 6/2, John Charles was an invited witness before the House Committee on…
Read Blog DetailOregon’s Next Green Folly
By Michael Bastasch Governor John Kitzhaber’s new “green” energy ploy, the Oregon “Cool…
Read Blog DetailRural Oregon Is Tired of Being Ignored
A statistic commonly used to highlight the economic hardship Oregonians bear is that…
Read Blog DetailKarla Testifies on HB 3290 to Allow More Land Use Options for Farmers
On May 10, Karla Kay Edwards testified before the Senate Environment and Natural…
Read Blog DetailPoison Pills vs. Gun Rights
Three common sense firearms bills passed the House of the Oregon Legislature and…
Read Blog DetailOregon Budget 101 feat Dan Lucas – Other Funds Budget
Dan Lucas discusses the Oregon Other Funds Budget, from the origins of the…
Read Blog DetailIs Oregon Business Friendly?
Many factors go into determining if a state is business friendly. A recent…
Read Blog DetailOregon Budget 101 feat Dan Lucas – Regional Spending Comparisons
Watch part II of Dan Lucas’s Oregon Budget 101 series. This episode discusses…
Read Blog DetailOregon Budget 101 with Dan Lucas – Overview and Growth
Part I in the Oregon Budget 101 series by Cascade Research Associate Dan…
Read Blog DetailComprehending a Comprehensive Plan
RSVP: Email askdamascus@yahoo.com Event goes from 9:00 am – Noon The Taxpayer Foundation…
Read Blog DetailHB 3510: The Affordable Health Care for All Oregon
Testimony on HB 3510 Before the House Committee on Healthcare March 11, 2011…
Read Blog DetailTodd Wynn testifies before the Oregon Senate on the proposed plastic bag ban
Todd Wynn presents the Oregon Senate with information from Cascade Policy Institute and…
Read Blog DetailNo Property Rights, No Economic Freedom
[audio:3-1-11KarlaNoPropertyRightsAudio.mp3] Click the play button to hear the audio commentary by Karla…
Read Blog DetailHearing on Friday for K-12 Tax Credit Scholarship Program
The House Education Committee will hear a bill proposing a K-12 tax credit…
Read Blog DetailTodd Hosts Bill Post Part 2 (VIDEO)
Click here for part 1 Todd Wynn fills in for Bill Post on…
Read Blog DetailTodd Wynn on Bill Post Hour 1 (VIDEO)
Click here for Part 2 Todd Wynn fills in for Bill Post on…
Read Blog DetailDon’t Make Nicotine a Prescription Drug
Download PDF by Steve Buckstein If you thought that nothing could be more…
Read Blog DetailThe Fallacy of a $3.5 Billion State Budget Deficit
The Fallacy of a $3.5 Billion State Budget Deficit Download PDF by Steve…
Read Blog DetailSteve discusses the Soda Tax on KOIN
Steve was interviewed by KOIN 6 in Portland about the Soda Tax (segment…
Read Blog DetailWhat’s Wrong with Taxing Soft Drinks?
by Steve Buckstein Oregonians voted down a new tax on tobacco in 2007,…
Read Blog DetailBiggest Bang for Your Buck? A Closer Look at Portland’s $548 Million School Modernization Proposal
Biggest Bang for Your Buck? A Closer Look at Portland’s $548 Million School…
Read Blog DetailGet trained by Steve Buckstein on the Oregon Budget!
Below is a Letter from Richard P. Burke As you many know, the…
Read Blog DetailResetting Oregon’s Budget and Recharging Our Economy
Resetting Oregon’s Budget and Recharging Our Economy Download PDF by Steve Buckstein Oregon…
Read Blog DetailIntel-ligent Stimulus
[audio:QuickPoint10-20-10Christina.mp3] Click the play button to hear the audio commentary By Christina Martin…
Read Blog DetailHeritage releases video addressing Obama tax cuts
For those interested in the national debate on tax cuts, here’s an interesting…
Read Blog Detail