Task Force Progress

Background

In Fall 2023, the Taxes for Services Committee (the Committee) of the Portland Central City Task Force (PCCTF) was charged to: “assess the impact of recently enacted and existing regional and local tax measures on the provision of critical services and the City’s economic competitiveness.” Recognizing an abrupt shift in tax and service policy, the Committee recommended a three-year moratorium on new taxes to allow new supportive housing, preschool, and climate-related programming to fully ramp up. The Committee also called for the creation of a Tax Advisory Group to review local, county, and regional taxes and to make recommendations regarding system adjustments.

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Charles Wilhoite of Willamette Management Associates leads the 10-member group. The work, which started in September 2024, is organized into descriptive and policy option phases. The goal of the descriptive phase is to develop a clear picture of economic, fiscal, and service conditions for the City of Portland and Multnomah County governments. The subsequent policy option phase will identify possible changes to tax and service policy that could foster broadly shared economic growth.

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About this report

This report is the product of the descriptive phase of the Group’s work. It draws on presentations from city and county budget officials and analyses from financial and economic consultants. Nineteen economic, fiscal, and service-related facts are organized into three parts:

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Part I: Taxes and Economic Activity

Part II: Trends in City and County Fiscal Conditions

Part III: Key Performance and Service-Related Challenges

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The findings should not come as a surprise to those who closely follow local budget and fiscal matters. The City and County are emerging from a period that included a global pandemic, the largest federal stimulus program in U.S. history, and sizable, voter-approved expansions in taxes and services. These extraordinary circumstances have left these two local governments with an unusual mix of deficits in their general funds and significant ending balances in newly created programs. The Tax Advisory Group will take these findings into account as it transitions to the policy option work—scheduled to be completed during the Spring 2025.

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Read the full report here.