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Editorial

We at the East Oregonian support ending the corporate kicker. We feel the money could be used for higher education, for putting more Oregon State Police troopers on the highway or for health care for children and senior citizens.

Read the full editorial at the East Oregonian

If Sal Peralta has his way, Oregon's corporate kicker tax will become history.

The activist, a former state representative candidate and small business owner from McMinnville, is one of the chief petitioners for a ballot measure initiative to end the corporate kicker.

Peralta and fellow petitioner Travis Diskin hope to get the measure on the ballot in 2010.

Keep in mind, they don't want to touch Oregonians' individual kickers, only the corporate "kicker tax" rebate.

And thus far, the measure has received support from all sides involved.

Read the full story at UPI

SALEM, Ore., Dec. 12 (UPI) -- An effort is afoot to overturn Oregon's unusual corporate tax refund law, which gives businesses a share of state revenue surpluses.

Under the 28-year-old law, tax rebates are issued to corporations in state budget cycles when state tax collections exceed official projections by more than 2 percent, The Ashland (Ore.) Daily Tidings reported Wednesday.

"Historically, about 80 percent or more of the corporate kicker leaves Oregon and a big chunk of it goes to just 26 corporations that are multinational and multi-state corporations operating in Oregon," said political activist Sal Peralta, who is coordinating the effort.

In the mid-1970s corporations were paying about 20 percent of the state's collected income tax. Today, he said, they pay less than 5 percent.

Thursday, December 13 - Salem - Two political activists say they're planning a ballot measure initiative to end the corporate "kicker tax" rebate. Sal Peralta and Travis Diskin say the bulk of such corporate rebates get sent to out-of-state companies, and that money should be spent in Oregon."

By Colin Fogarty

Portland, OR December 11, 2007 7:35 p.m.

Just as Oregon taxpayers are aglow with their kicker checks, a group of progressive activists is filing a ballot measure to get rid of part of the kicker -- the refund that goes to corporations. Colin Fogarty reports.

Listen to full story at OPB

Oregon’s kicker law requires the state to refund tax revenue when projections by the state economist are off by two per cent or more.

Oregon voters like it so much they enshrined the law in the state Constitution in 2000.

They may like it even more after the state sent individual checks totaling more than a billion dollars just in time for the holidays this year.

Some taxpayers are donating their kicker checks to schools or charities.

By Chris Rizo
Read the full story at the Ashland Daily Tidings

SALEM — Two veteran political activists are laying the groundwork to repeal Oregon's unique 28-year-old corporate kicker law, an idea long championed by a local lawmaker.

Quick to say they are not eyeing the personal kicker that individual taxpayers receive, Sal Peralta said he and Travis Diskin have their eyes set on the kicker rebates that are issued to businesses in years when state revenue collections exceed official projections by more than two percent.

"Historically, about 80 percent or more of the corporate kicker leaves Oregon and a big chunk of it goes to just 26 corporations that are multinational and multi-state corporations operating in Oregon," Peralta said Wednesday in a telephone interview from his McMinnville home.

They aim to get their initiative on the ballot in 2010

STEVE LAW

Read the full article at the Statesman Journal

December 12, 2007

Fresh after the state disbursed a record $1.07 billion in personal "kicker" tax rebates, a pair of activists want to end future rebates for corporations.

Sal Peralta and Travis Diskin said they're introducing a ballot initiative to amend the Oregon Constitution and eliminate corporate kickers.

Their initiative would not tamper with individual personal tax kickers.

They argue that the bulk of the corporate rebates get sent to out-of-state companies. Although their measure won't specify where the money should go, they say it could be better used to build up state reserves or spent on higher education, senior services and other priorities.

Read the full story at the Oregonian
The Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A pair of Oregon political activists say they're planning a ballot measure initiative to end the corporate "kicker tax" rebate.

Sal Peralta and Travis Diskin say their initiative would not tamper with individual personal tax kickers. But they argue the bulk of the corporate kicker rebates get sent to out-of-state companies, and that money should be spent in Oregon instead.

Lawmakers and Gov. Ted Kulongoski talked about eliminating corporate kickers in the 2007 legislative session before striking a deal to put $319 million of corporate kicker money into the new Oregon Rainy Day Fund.

Voters may not have to decide on the new initiative until 2010, because Peralta and Diskin say it's too late to gather enough signatures to get a statewide measure on the 2008 ballot.

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Political activists Sal Peralta and Travis Diskin have launched a web site, corporatekicker.org, with the intention of eliminating the corporate kicker in Oregon by 2011.

Sal Peralta issued the following statements...

"Most Oregonians see the wisdom in saving for a rainy day. Most businesses believe in the need for government to help deliver on services including roads, water, and education from kindergarten through college."

"We are putting forward an Amendment to remove the corporate kicker from Oregon's constitution as an enabling measure to show the legislature that there is a mandate in this state to eliminate the corporate kicker."