ORS 316.003 Goals

The goals of the Legislative Assembly are to achieve for the people of this state a tax system that recognizes:

Fairness and equity as its basic values; and

That the total tax system should use seven guiding principles as measures by which to evaluate tax proposals.

Those guiding principles are:

Ability to pay;

Fairness;

Efficiency;

Even distribution;

The tax system should be equitable where the minimum aspects of a fair system are:

That it shields genuine subsistence income from taxation;

That it is not regressive; and

That it imposes approximately the same tax burden on all households earning the same income;

Adequacy; and

Flexibility.

To meet those goals of Oregon’s tax system, any tax must be considered in conjunction with the effects of all other taxes on Oregonians.