A Brief History of Property Taxation in Oregon

1.		Property taxes were the only tax in Oregon from 1859 to 1929.
2.		In 1916 Oregon had its first property tax limitation measure: Taxing District levies were limited to a 6% annual growth.
3.		In 1929 the State Income Tax was passed by the Legislature.
4.		In 1942 the two taxes and their revenue were split: Income Tax revenue was assigned to the state to support state government services; Property Tax revenue was assigned exclusively to the local government districts and local school districts.
5.		In 1989 Measure 5, Oregon's second property tax limitation measure (but first since 1916), was approved by the voters. Measure 5 limited the total tax rate to: $10 per thousand dollars of a property's real market value for local government services; $5 per thousand dollars real market value for local school services.
6.		In 1997 Measure 47, Oregon's third property tax limitation measure, was approved by the voters. Measure 47 was fatally flawed and resulted in Measure 50. Measure 50 established a permanent tax rate for each taxing district and limits the growth in assessed value to no more than 3% per year.
7.		Now, for every individual property account, the property tax amount computed under Measure 5 is compared with the tax amount computed under Measure 50, and the lowest tax amount is placed on the property tax statement.