2026-09-28 · socialism
Portland councilors seek major expansion of city’s CEO pay-gap tax
Councilors Mitch Green and Angelita Morillo announced a "Fair Share Tax" ordinance that would raise the city's CEO pay-ratio surtax on about 405 publicly traded corporations from the current 10%–25% of business-tax liability to a sliding scale of 25% to 500%, while raising the business license tax exemption from $75,000 to $500,000 in gross receipts. Their offices said the Revenue Division estimated $88 million in new surtax revenue less $16 million from the small-business cut, a net $72 million a year, with about 18,000 businesses paying nothing and saving an average of about $900. Portland Metro Chamber president Andrew Hoan said "Local taxes work like tariffs"; Councilor Steve Novick, who introduced the 2016 surtax, told the Mercury he "rather like[s] this method of taxation" but wants "a broad coalition with agreement on what exactly the money would be spent on."
The existing surtax has generated about $5 million a year since 2017; the proposal is scheduled for the Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole on October 8.