Early Returns Show Portlanders Pass Gross Receipts Tax Measure
A supporter of Portland Clean Energy Fund speaks to the crowd at Brown Hope's Reparation Power Hour.
Large retailers doing business in Portland will now have to pay a 1 percent tax on the revenue they generate in the city.
Portland voters on Tuesday passed a gross receipts tax measure that will pay into a clean energy fund, which proponents say will help the city chip away at its clean energy goals.
Measure 26-201 — formally known on the ballot as the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Initiative — became a battle this election season over trickle-down economics. Opponents, mostly business groups, argued the gross receipts tax on retailers doing business in Portland would hit consumers at the cash register.
Proponents, mostly local community organizations, said the benefits far outweigh any potential drawback, especially for communities of color on whom climate change has a disproportionate impact, they argued.
But opponents' arguments weren't enough to convince Portland voters.
The tax is aimed at retailers that make more than $1 billion in gross revenues nationally and $500,000 in Portland. The tax will apply only to the gross revenue generated in Portland city limits beginning Jan. 1, 2019. Proponents say the measure will generate an estimated $30 million a year (though opponents have contested that).
Money from the tax will supposed to pay for clean energy projects and job training throughout the city.
The tax will not apply to groceries, medicine or health care services.
The measure’s steering committee includes Verde, the Coalition of Communities of Color, the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon and the Portland branch of the NAACP, among others. [Copyright 2018 EarthFix]
