Have Oregons taxes risen or fallen over time?
The dollar value of state and local taxes in Oregon has been rising for decades (top graph). Some of this upward trend is due to inflation and some to increasing population and income. If we adjust for inflation, population, and income growth, we see a very different pattern. One way to make these adjustments is to look at taxes as a share of personal income. In those terms, Oregons state and local tax revenues declined slightly between the early and late 1990s (bottom graph). As a share of personal income, state tax revenues were flat during the 1990s, fluctuating between 5.75 and 6.25 percent from 1992 to 2001. More recent data are available only for state tax revenues. In both unadjusted dollar terms (top graph) and as a share of personal income (bottom graph), revenues declined in Oregon after 2000. Total state revenues and expenditures represent a greater share of personal income and may exhibit somewhat different patterns. For example, both total revenues and expenditures reflect
