Are Oregons taxes high or low compared to other states?
A good way to compare the tax burden across states is to look at the share of personal income that goes to state and local taxes. In Oregon, these taxes were 10.6 percent of personal income in 2000, placing Oregon 39th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia (see graph). These rankings change each year as taxes and incomes rise and fall at different rates in different states. Oregons rank is lower now than in the past. In 1980, Oregons taxes as a share of personal income ranked 23rd in the nation. By 1990, Oregons ranking had risen to 13th, before falling to 39th in 2000. A low state-local tax burden does not necessarily mean low state-local revenues as a share of personal income. The reason is that some revenues come from nontax sources, such as federal government payments, licensing and user fees, and lottery receipts. Oregons general state-local revenue as a share of personal income is 23.5 percent, placing it 10th among the states. (The national average is 19.8 percent.) O
