Taxes change behavior.  That fundamental principle will guide my thoughts on tax policy.  A tax on gross receipts (even disguised as an alternate minimum tax), drives businesses with high costs of goods sold out of the state (such as manufacturing and car sales).  Those family-wage jobs should not be discouraged when our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation.  The current tax code is unsustainable, acts as a barrier for many businesses to come to Oregon, and does not consider how taxes discourage certain types of actions in the economy.  It is time for politicians to stop using the tax code to score political points, and use the tax code as a tool to motivate jobs growth and job creation.  Implicit in every tax question should be a consideration of whether the tax change will help or hurt the economy, and politicians simply must stop legislating with the attitude that so-called “small” increases are so insignificant that no businesses make decisions thinking about taxes.  That is a fallacy.
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