Let's kill this beast.

I dunno, can I get Graham to weigh in on this issue?

How about that first year $500,000 administrative cost cap?

That's the Mercury-Endorsed Arts Tax (MEAT).

Not making changes to the arts tax is far more about the proposed "carbon" tax than anything else.

Yeah, babygorilla. There is a screaming silence on whether they busted the first year administrative cap already. Denis could ask, but then he's and advocate, not a journalist.

Anyway, still waiting to hear how you plan to come get my $35, chumps.

This tax is clearly both regressive and unconstitutional. Fuck this noise. I'd gladly play a real tax that accomplished real things, but with this fucking nonsense of a shitlord bollocksauce tax in place, we'll never get any real funding in place to return actual, real arts education to the public schools. This is a feel-good panacea that will accomplish fucking bupkis, except to make idiotic liberal shitbrains think they're making the city a better place.

You mean your $50, Blabby. And in about a month from now, your $70. I mean, it looks like you could appeal the fee (item D, below), but i'm pretty sure your definition of "good cause" doesn't line up with theirs.

I agree that this whole thing has been one giant fuck-up from the beginning, but i'm certainly not going to pay them double simply so that i can say i fought the good fight and resisted. And you pay your other taxes, right? If so, then coming after you for this one will be decidedly easy. And on the day they finally pry that $70 from your hands, you will have officially taken over the title of 'chump'.

The smart thing to do is to just pay it, THEN appeal it. Just like a parking ticket. No sense in paying them any more by ignoring protocol.


from the Arts Tax Administrative Rules:

A. Penalties will be assessed if a taxfiler fails to pay the full tax when due.

B. The penalty for filing late for the 2012 tax year (due May 15, 2013) is:

Fifteen dollars ($15) if the failure to pay is for a period of five (5) months or less; and
In addition to the fifteen dollars ($15) stated above, the additional sum of twenty dollars ($20) if the failure to pay lasts for a period greater than five (5) months.

C. The penalty for filing late for tax year 2013 (due April 15, 2014) and beyond is:

Fifteen dollars ($15) if the failure to pay is for a period of six (6) months or less; and
In addition to the fifteen dollars ($15) stated above, the additional sum of twenty dollars ($20) if the failure to pay lasts for a period greater than six (6) months.

D. The Bureau may waive or reduce any penalty for good cause shown pursuant to its rule on protests.

I take your point HIT, but I mean literally how are they going to figure who hasn't paid? They haven't described when or how they plan to do that. The city doesn't collect any other income tax, so they don't have record of people's income on hand.

I can't imagine it being too difficult a process. All they have to do is call up the IRS and ask for a list of all Portland residents over the age of 18 that earned more than $1,000 in 2012. Compare it to a list of those that paid the Arts Tax. Levy fines against those who haven't. If there are still any holdouts by tax time next year, simply tack it all on to their federal taxes and levy yet another penalty to cover the hassle of having to do so.

Plus the city will eventually have to file individual lawsuits against non - payers because the city is not like the ODR or IRS in this instance and can't just levy on wages or property without a court judgment.

Probably a small claims suit by a collection agency. And if the constitutional challenges raised in response to those suits are not successful, and if the city gets a judgment, then they have to garnish wages / bank accounts for people who don't pay.

Seems like an administrative nightmare.