On Feb. 7, the Oregon House Committee on Revenue held a public hearing on HB 2301, a bill to raise the Estate Tax threshold from $1 million to $7 million and replace the tax brackets with a 7% flat tax above the new exempt amount. The current Estate Tax rates range from 10-16%. The bill received strong support from Oregonians who testified in person and submitted written testimony to the committee.
“Oregonians should be able to afford to live in their home state without being forced to move away from their families during the remaining years of their lives,” said Rep. Kevin Mannix, R-Salem. “This reform offers Oregon families the hope that what they have worked so hard to build up throughout their lives can be completely passed on to their children,” Mannix concluded.
Oregon has become the 39th-worst state for retirement, according to a recent WalletHub.com report. Additionally, Oregon’s Estate Tax is the second-highest and most punitive in the nation, while 38 states don’t have an estate tax or have repealed it.
Rep. Bobby Levy, R-Echo, a co-chief sponsor of the bill, said, “HB 2301 is a smart, fair reform. The bill modernizes Oregon’s estate tax, protects family-owned businesses and farms, and ensures that Oregonians who have worked their whole lives to build something can actually pass it down without the state taking an unfair cut.”
House Republican Leader Rep. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, noted, “Taxes in Oregon are too high, and the threshold for the Estate Tax is too low. Without change, many families will continue to experience challenges holding on to hard-earned family homes, assets and savings.” Drazan concluded, “HB 2301 gives more Oregonians the opportunity to leave something behind for their loved ones.”
HB 2301 is chief sponsored by Reps. Kevin Mannix, Bobby Levy, Ed Diehl, Jeff Helfrich and E. Werner Reschke. Additional sponsors include Reps. Court Boice, Christine Drazan, Mark Owens, Boomer Wright and Dwayne Yunker.