Filed, of course, by a demoncrap representative name of Brad Witt (again nice they provide a photograph for positive ID)
The bill text doesn’t – yet – specify the minimum value of each ‘luxury good’ to have the 3% tax applied, but I’ll wager the price of a gun will be “any price”.
Oregon bill increases tax on luxury items to help those in need
A new House Bill aimed at helping some of the state’s most vulnerable will receive a public hearing next week.
HB 4079, known as the Oregon Freedom Pilot Program, would increase taxes on luxury items. The money collected would be given out to low-income pregnant women and adults who have aged out of the foster youth program. Those who qualify would receive $750 a month for up to three years, but only if they agree to the requirements of completing a financial literacy class and letting purchases made with the $750 be tracked for analytical purposes.
“We believe those two accountability measures are going to lead to success, not only for the individuals that we enroll in the program but the program itself, as well as the taxpaying public” said Rep. Brad Witt, demoncrap-Clatskanie. “What will be required here, is that folks that choose to participate in the program and want to avail themselves to the $750 monthly payment, be required to take a financial education course and also to agree that their purchases will be monitored by an independent third party anonymously. That way we can then have a system of constant improvement on the financial literacy course, knowing what it is that we need to be instructing folks on to achieve the best results that we possibly can out of the program.”
The $750 would come on a debit card. Witt says there are no restrictions on what that money can be spent on.
Taxes would be increased to 3% on items deemed a luxury. Examples outlined in the bill include airplanes, expensive watercrafts, high-end cars, jewelry>>>>> and guns<<<<<. Witt says once each item goes over a certain price, it will be taxed.
“Jewelry would be a $20,000 threshold; we have a $15,000 threshold for items like snowmobiles,” said Witt. “Each item, the threshold pricing point was determined by what is the average cost of that item in the marketplace and we tried to get it at the very high end of that market to make sure it was luxury and not an everyday purchase price.”
HB 4079 will be heard on Tuesday in the Human Services Committee. KATU reached out to Oregon House Republicans about the bill. No one was available for an interview or to provide a statement on Friday, but a spokesperson says this bill is something they are paying attention to.
Witt says if it passes, this bill will make Oregon the first state in the country to provide such legislation.