The Oregon kicker tax law says that if the state legislature spends more than 2% over its estimate, it has to return the residual to the tax payers. That residual was HUGE this year, so we got a pretty good little check in the mail. The only thing that could be better about that law is if they never took the taxes in the first place. What is great about how the law works is that, if too much money is taken from the people, the money comes back right before Christmas. Many of the tax and spenders in the state want to repeal the law, but I think it will be very hard because, people remember what a nice thing it is to receive an unexpected check at that time of year. The total tax rates are only about a percentage point different between Oregon and North Carolina, so that has not impacted us too much. It would be nice, though, if North Carolina had a kicker law like Oregon.
