"Kicker" due in December with average amount $612
The check is in the mail! Almost ...
The certified smart people in the Office of Economic Analysis have good news for Oregonians: a record kicker return will be waiting in their mailboxes later this year.
A total of $1.07 billion will be sent back to taxpayers, with the average check predicted at $612.
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Oregon’s “kicker” law takes unexpected tax collections and -- instead of leaving them available to spend -- puts them back in taxpayers’ pockets.
“The real beauty of Oregon’s voter-mandated kicker law is that it controls government spending,” said Sen. Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day). “It is the only safeguard taxpayers have against government spending every penny that comes in the door during good economic times. And an extra $600 right before Christmas doesn’t hurt either.”
Kicker checks will amount to 18.6 percent of pre-credit tax liability. Oregonians can use the online kicker calculator, or multiply the amount on line 29 of their 2006 Oregon Income Tax Return (Form 40) times .186.
Not everyone is excited about the news that taxpayers are getting record refunds, said Ferrioli.
He said that the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Revenue Committee was critical of checks in an article that appeared in The Oregonian. And Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) called Oregon’s kicker “really dumb tax policy.”
Observed Ferrioli, “Despite a 20 percent increase in state spending this budget cycle, and the fact that she and other legislators diverted $975 million in refunds owed to Oregon employers to a Rainy Day Fund, Burdick doesn’t seem to respect the voters who put the law in the Oregon Constitution.”
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