With deadline approaching, thousands of Oregonians call on Gov. Kitzhaber to bring more transparency to tax subsidies

Media Releases

OSPIRG

Portland– Oregonians from across the state are calling on Governor Kitzhaber to follow through on his administration’s commitment to bring more transparency to economic development tax subsidies, as the December 31st deadline to update the Oregon transparency website approaches.

An ad running on the Statesman Journal homepage today shows hundreds of Oregonians urging the Governor to require his state agencies make more information about economic development tax subsidies available to the public online. This ad comes after 4,500 Oregonians signed an online petition to the Governor, carrying the same message.

“Governor Kitzhaber should make 2014 the year that Oregonians can hop online and see critical details about economic development tax subsidies,” said Celeste Meiffren, OSPIRG’s Consumer and Taxpayer Advocate. “What a great gift to give the public this holiday season: the ability to see their return on our investment after years of being kept in the dark.”

For the past nine months, OSPIRG has been calling on Governor Kitzhaber to require that his state agencies reveal where the $665 million spent on economic development tax subsidies is going, including the names of the companies that are getting public subsidies, tax dollars pledged or received by those companies, what they promised in exchange for those subsidies and whether or not they delivered. In the spring, administration officials made a preliminary commitment to this action by year’s end.

A study by OSPIRG Foundation released earlier this year found that critical details for these economic development tax subsidies are still mostly out of reach for Oregonians. The study showed that in 2013, of the eighteen programs covered by the 2011 transparency law, only six had reports available for public review on the Oregon transparency website and that state agencies did not provide reports for twelve of the eighteen programs covered by the law, despite evidence that information is available for some of the programs.

“Governor Kitzhaber should stand up for taxpayers by instructing his agencies to show the public whether companies that get state or local tax incentives in exchange for jobs or other economic growth are doing just that,” said Meiffren. “This would hardwire transparency and accountability into Oregon’s approach to tax subsidies and ensure the public is never kept in the dark again.”

To see the hundreds of Oregonians who signed onto the ad, go to:  http://bit.ly/ospirgsecretmoney 

Read OSPIRG Foundation’s report, “Revealing Tax Subsidies 2013.”