Seattle or Portland?

[ObiDon]

Originally posted by: NL5

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: buck
Can anyone confirm that Portland doesn't have city income tax?

i work in zip code 97223 and pay no city income tax. only state and federal income tax.

If you live in Multnomah County, there is a County tax though - but only if you live there.

it looks like that may have only been for 2003, 2004, and 2005. there aren't any other forms available. or maybe their website is very outdated

 

[NL5]

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: NL5

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: buck
Can anyone confirm that Portland doesn't have city income tax?

i work in zip code 97223 and pay no city income tax. only state and federal income tax.

If you live in Multnomah County, there is a County tax though - but only if you live there.

it looks like that may have only been for 2003, 2004, and 2005. there aren't any other forms available. or maybe their website is very outdated

You may be right. I thought it got re-instituted, but since I only work in MC, I was never actually subjected to that tax, so i am probably wrong then.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: NL5

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: buck
Can anyone confirm that Portland doesn't have city income tax?

i work in zip code 97223 and pay no city income tax. only state and federal income tax.

If you live in Multnomah County, there is a County tax though - but only if you live there.

it looks like that may have only been for 2003, 2004, and 2005. there aren't any other forms available. or maybe their website is very outdated

Yeah the MultCo tax is over and done with. State income tax only.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
One negative that I haven't seen mentioned (and forgot myself) is that Portland is the whitest big city in America. If you're looking for a mingling of different minorities in a cultural melting pot, not so much in Portland... Don't get me wrong, it's not a racist place. It's just really, really white (for the record, I'm white too). It's a little like children of the corn sometimes.

Are you crazy? Where in PDX do you live? Portland has a large mix of different ethnic backgrounds? Are you actually in Portland or La Center or Brush Prairie?

I am absolutely insane. Terrifically, stupendously, phantasmagorically batshit fucking crazy. But that doesn't make Portland any less white. According to this, Portland is the third whitest metropolitan area in the country (behind Cincinnati and Boston), but the figures skew results based on how they count Latinos. Still, according to Wikipedia, Portland is over 77% white. It is not uncommon to go into a fairly crowded bar and see all white faces. Again, I'm not implying that people here are racist, but the racial makeup is more markedly biased towards white than in many other large cities. Then again, Seattle is pretty damn white too, so there you go.

-EDIT- And for the record, I live in inner southeast near 20th and Hawthorne. Hardly the boondocks.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal

Originally posted by: Atomic Playboy
One negative that I haven't seen mentioned (and forgot myself) is that Portland is the whitest big city in America. If you're looking for a mingling of different minorities in a cultural melting pot, not so much in Portland... Don't get me wrong, it's not a racist place. It's just really, really white (for the record, I'm white too). It's a little like children of the corn sometimes.

Are you crazy? Where in PDX do you live? Portland has a large mix of different ethnic backgrounds? Are you actually in Portland or La Center or Brush Prairie?

I am absolutely insane. Terrifically, stupendously, phantasmagorically batshit fucking crazy. But that doesn't make Portland any less white. According to this, Portland is the third whitest metropolitan area in the country (behind Cincinnati and Boston), but the figures skew results based on how they count Latinos. Still, according to Wikipedia, Portland is over 77% white. It is not uncommon to go into a fairly crowded bar and see all white faces. Again, I'm not implying that people here are racist, but the racial makeup is more markedly biased towards white than in many other large cities. Then again, Seattle is pretty damn white too, so there you go.

-EDIT- And for the record, I live in inner southeast near 20th and Hawthorne. Hardly the boondocks.

Wow Cincinnati is #1? Did they just not count over the rhine?

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: Bryophyte
No sales tax in Oregon, anywhere.

however, ashland has a meals tax on prepared food and non-alcoholic beverages. :Q
i believe it's 5% but i could be mistaken.

You are correct.

The Multnomah county i-tax is dead.

And yes, Portland is a "white" city. And while it's not racist now (the city is VERY liberal), it was racism in the past that made it this way. The city really didn't permit blacks to live here until after the Vanport flood of 1948 (which is also why most of the city's blacks live on the north side). OTOH, we never really had the "white flight" of the '60s and '70s.

 

[gotsmack]

I forgot to ask, are there any counties close to Portland that charge county tax? If I can't afford to live in a decent part of Portland I might just end up living in the suburbs.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: gotsmack
I forgot to ask, are there any counties close to Portland that charge county tax? If I can't afford to live in a decent Portland I might just end up living in the suburbs.

The counties and cities don't charge personal income tax or sales tax.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: ObiDon

Originally posted by: Bryophyte
No sales tax in Oregon, anywhere.

however, ashland has a meals tax on prepared food and non-alcoholic beverages. :Q
i believe it's 5% but i could be mistaken.

You are correct.

The Multnomah county i-tax is dead.

And yes, Portland is a "white" city. And while it's not racist now (the city is VERY liberal), it was racism in the past that made it this way. The city really didn't permit blacks to live here until after the Vanport flood of 1948 (which is also why most of the city's blacks live on the north side). OTOH, we never really had the "white flight" of the '60s and '70s.

I've been reading "Jumptown - The History of Jazz in Portland" and it doesn't really engage racism directly (at least not so far), but brushed up against it when talking about how the City could close popular clubs in the black neighborhoods based on trumped up violations. There was also that Willamette Week issue a couple of years back that talked about the history of racism in conflicts between the police and the folks in NE - I think in the '70's. It's pretty sad, and thankfully there doesn't appear to be much of that going on these days (besides the bi-annual police shooting scandal).

But yeah, I haven't lived in other cities so I can't really attest to how Portland compares, but I feel like it's a pretty ethnic place. Maybe it's just because of where I go and what I do. Maybe that says that it will be what you make of it. Or that I'm an ethnocentrist. Say it ain't so!

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
I've been reading "Jumptown - The History of Jazz in Portland" and it doesn't really engage racism directly (at least not so far), but brushed up against it when talking about how the City could close popular clubs in the black neighborhoods based on trumped up violations. There was also that Willamette Week issue a couple of years back that talked about the history of racism in conflicts between the police and the folks in NE - I think in the '70's. It's pretty sad, and thankfully there doesn't appear to be much of that going on these days (besides the bi-annual police shooting scandal).

But yeah, I haven't lived in other cities so I can't really attest to how Portland compares, but I feel like it's a pretty ethnic place. Maybe it's just because of where I go and what I do. Maybe that says that it will be what you make of it. Or that I'm an ethnocentrist. Say it ain't so!

I'll need to pick up that book. Never read it, but it sounds good.

I think I read that WW article when it came out.

The thing to understand about Portland IMO (and whole Willamette Valley) is that it was populated by the people who took the Oregon Trail... to the very end.
(And in the 1840's, that wasn't black people).
Sure sure, we've had huge influxes of other groups since then, but the early history, culture, and mindset of the people remains.

Other cities have their own similar quirks. Like how Seattle was founded solely by land speculators.

Anyway, we go any further off-topic and we ought to take this to PM.