Archives

February 18, 2010 - 19 Tax Changes in the Obama Budget

By Oregon Tax News, This month President Obama released a budget plan that emphasizes new spending freezes and fiscal accountability but comes with an extraordinary price tag.   Overall, the budget reveals federal spending will grow to $3.72 trillion dollars in the 2010 fiscal year and will increase to $3.83 trillion […]


February 17, 2010 - IRS to begin 6,000 random business audits

NW Business Litigation Blog Ater Wynne Oregon Attorneys at Law, The “tax gap” is the difference between what the IRS collects and what it thinks it is owed.  In 2005, the IRS estimated the gap was $345 billion, including approximately $60 billion in employment taxes.  To help close the gap, […]


February 16, 2010 - Consumer protection bils advance in Legislature

State Reprseentative Paul Holvey Press Release, House Committee Passes Key Consumer Protection Bills SALEM — The House Consumer Protection & Government Accountability Committee, chaired by Rep. Paul Holvey (D-Eugene), passed the following bills of note out of committee. HB 3624: Requires appraisal management companies (AMCs), which are often owned and […]


February 15, 2010 - Retail Sales: Consumers Showing Some Life

Markets Don’t Stay Bad Forever: Cycles, Trends, and an Oil Refining Example By Bill Conerly, Conerly Consulting, Businomics, The report on retail sales shows that consumers are loosening their purse strings, continuing a trend that is now about a year old, though with plenty of backsliding along the way. Some […]


February 14, 2010 - New Jobless Claims on the Rise, State Revenues Drop Again

By Associated Oregon Industries, In testimony Monday morning before a joint session of the House and Senate Revenue Committees, state economist Tom Potiowsky proclaimed that the state’s recession was over, but predicted a jobless recovery through 2010.  Potiowsky even warned of the prospects of a “double dip” recession if the […]


February 13, 2010 - 40% of workers have dated a co-worker

Nearly Forty Percent of Workers Have Dated a Co-Worker, Finds Annual CareerBuilder Valentine’s Day Survey. Nearly One-Third End Up Marrying Co-Workers They Dated Career Builders Survey — Economy up, economy down, one thing remains the same: love is in the air at the office. Nearly four-in-ten (37 percent) workers said […]


February 12, 2010 - How price psychology makes customers pay more

BY Oregon Small Business Association, William Poundstone’s bottom line: consumers don’t really know what anything should cost. In his book “Priceless,” Poundstone zestfully and entertainingly explains the economics, psychology, and intellectual reasoning surrounding the ways in which producers and sellers take advantage of buyers’ lack of knowledge. Cost and price […]


February 11, 2010 - Oregon Economist: Taxes and the Rainy-Day Fund

By Patrick Emerson Oregon Economics Blog A rather depressing sense of self-satisfaction seems to have consumed the state democrats after the passage of Measures 66 & 67. But celebrating their passage as a major political victory, and allowing their passage to become an excuse not to immediately address the revenue […]


February 10, 2010 - Poll: Oregonians approve annual sessions

By Moore Information Polling Annual Sessions for Oregon Legislature “Would you vote yes to approve or no to oppose annual sessions for the state legislature?” Our recent poll shows Oregon voters support annual sessions for the state legislature by more than a two-to-one margin. Today, 52% of voters statewide tell […]


February 9, 2010 - When Is It Legal to Cuss Out Your Boss?

by Dennis Westlind Stoel Rives LLP, Attorneys at Law Most of us assume that if an employee swears at a manager or, he or she can be disciplined or even fired. That assumption may be wrong, depending on the context in which the swearing occurs. A federal judge recently held […]