For those keeping score at home, yet another strange problem with Portland’s well-intentioned-but-troubled arts tax has come to light. This time, says Mayor Charlie Hales’ office, it’s that the city has been collecting its $35 from people living off state pension and/or Social Security checks—income sources the city is technically barred from considering for tax purposes.

And that means the city now must figure how out how to pay some of that money back. The snafu affects anyone who relies on entitlements and—crucially—didn’t also earn more than $1,000 in eligible income from a part-time job or what have you. That $1,000 income threshold, approved in March, was the first big change for the arts tax. Hales is commissioning a broader review of changes, due this summer.

“This arts tax puts us in a bind,” Hales said in a statement. “We want to be true to voters, who approved it in November. We have to be good stewards of taxpayers’ money. And we want to support the public schools and arts community. These problems – which stem from the way the tax was written – make it difficult to meet all those goals.”

The city’s revenue bureau isn’t sure how many people qualify for the refund. Revenue Director Thomas Lannom, however, says $4.25 million has been collected so far. With eight days before the new May 15 deadline, that’s about half of what officials said they expected to collect for the tax’s first fiscal year.

The arts tax was approved by 61 percent of voters and is expected, pending legal challenges, to pay for school arts teachers and also help nonprofits and arts institutions expand access for low-income kids and other free programs.

Denis C. Theriault is the Portland Mercury's News Editor. He writes stories about City Hall and the Portland Police Bureau, focusing on issues like homelessness, police oversight, insider politics, and...

8 replies on “Now the Arts Tax is Taking Money from Pensioners”

  1. It’s just getting more and more ridiculous that this was allowed as a ballot measure when apparently zero thought was put into how the tax would be collected.

  3. God, this is the dumbest tax. Who the fuck is at fault for this fucking mess? I’d gladly pay a real arts or culture tax. But this bullshit? F. U. C. K. N. O.

    How much is it going to cost to issue these refunds? Are we approaching the 5% administrative cut off yet?

    I think I’m going to work on creating a form letter to send to the City of Portland protesting the tax. The best way to take down bureaucracy is with forms and submissions.

  4. Hmm, another Mercury-endorsed ballot measure. Was Seattle laughing at us those of us who voted against it?

    DO IT RIGHT NEXT TIME AND ADD IT TO THE PROPERTY TAX BILLS LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE. IF YOU DON’T THINK YOU CAN GET IT PASSED THAT WAY, DON’T PROPOSE IT.

  5. Trying to be “true to the voters” by making change after change to an incredibly poorly written tax seems contradictory.

  6. Can the merc please report on how close we are to the 5% thing, and does me not paying thereby making them come after me get us closer to the 5% thing?

  7. Most of us were put between a rock and a hard place. I’m no fan of the flat sum, which yeah should be considered a head tax. I didn’t really think about the income exemptions because that’s not my job and I’m just a stupid average voter.

    I’m more than happy to shell out $35 a year, even without a child of my own, if it means that kids get to keep art programs. A “no” vote might’ve meant losing those arts teachers while scrambling to put together a bill that wasn’t written in crayon, and maybe with shakier odds of passing if it had already failed before.

    So here we are.

  8. according to the oregonian the city is now planning to spend 600k to collect less than 12 million, sounds like they may very well cross the 5% line.

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