Oregon Public Broadcasting

Running a company is never easy.

But two years of recession plus the introduction of two new taxes in Oregon, have left some business leaders riled.

Kristian Foden-Vencil talked to several business owners and finds a deep seam of frustration.

On the warehouse floor of Platt Electric in Beaverton, shipping supervisor Ed Storin watches as a wooden pallet, plied high with boxes, spins around.

Ed Storin: "This here is a wrap machine which applies shrink wrap on any of the product that we stack and wrap to be shipped every night."

Kristian Foden-Vencil: "So you got a whole load of stuff that's being shipped out and you want to keep it all on one pallet so it doesn't fall off?"

Ed Storin: "Exactly."

Platt Electric has 99 stores across the West. If you're an electrician, or building a new office block, you might order all your wires, junction boxes and fixtures from Platt.

It's a 57-year-old family run company. But president Jeff Baker says in recent years the prestige of running a business has been tarnished.

Jeff Baker: "The word corporation has become almost a dirty word -- it does sting a little to be associated with the greed that can be associated with the Wall Street Banks. Because we did get painted with that brush, I believe."

Baker thinks it's unfair to paint Platt Electric with that brush because when the economy slumped, Platt and other Oregon businesses headed to Salem to suggest a new tax -- because they knew things were going to get bad.

They say they would have supported a tax that lasted for a couple of years to raise about $600 million. But, says the chairman of Platt Electric, Harvey Platt, the legislature rejected the idea and instead set up a permanent tax.

Harvey Platt: "It was kind of like we went to someone's house for Thanksgiving, and we brought them a nice big basket of fruit, and they said, we don't want your darn fruit, go get us something else. And you know, that's disturbing."

What business owners found even more disturbing, was the tone of some of the advertising that aired during the recent fight to over tax measures 66 and 67.

Advertisement: "1931, a new car cost $600, a cup of coffee 2 cents. And Oregon's corporate minimum tax was just $10. Cost for the middle class have gone up a lot since then, but big corporations like Wall Street Banks and Credit Card companies still pay the $10 minimum tax. Measures 66 and 67 will protect the middle class and make the big corporations finally pay their fair share...."

Oregon businesses feel that they were lumped in with "Wall Street Banks and Credit Card Companies," and that, says Harvey Platt is unreasonable.

Harvey Platt: "I don't think it's necessarily the tax. It's the attitude."

Platt says business owners feel like they've been doing the best they can to retain jobs and support their local communities. But debacles like Enron, Wall Street bonuses and the credit crunch have hit them all.

If that was the only problem facing Oregon businesses, perhaps they wouldn't feel so negative. But says electric company president Jeff Baker, the economy is taking an awfully long-time to bounce back.

Jeff Baker: "In business school they don't teach classes in how you take your company backwards -- so this whole notion that our economy, together we've gone backward produces some very unsettling moments."

I don't mean to make Platt Electrics sound especially negative. The company is doing relatively well considering the economy. But what Baker and Platt are saying is echoed by business leaders across Oregon. 

I spoke with many people in the business community while researching this story, and when I turned off the recorder, some used even stronger language to describe their feelings -- language I can’t repeat on the radio.

Ryan Deckert runs the Oregon Business Alliance. He says after the tax vote business owners were chewing his ear off for days.

Ryan Deckert: "I couldn't believe it. Now that we have Blackberrys and handhelds, about every three minutes I would get an e-mail from someone else."

In the Wall Street Journal, Nike boss Phil Knight dubbed the new taxes: "Oregon's assisted suicide for businesses."

Peter Bragdon, the lawyer for Columbia Sportswear, says after President Obama was elected, there was an optimistic feeling.

Peter Bragdon: "People thought there would be a reaching across, and I'm not just talking Republican versus Democrat, but also business and labor and people trying to find common ground. Instead I think a lot of people have been thinking that they need to sleep with one eye open."

Over in Salem, lawmakers say they’re aware of the anger.

But Governor Ted Kulongoski for one, disputes allegations that lawmakers don’t listen. 

Ted Kulongoski: "I think that they listen to them, they just had a different point of view. And I don't think that that's ignoring them. I think that what the business community has to do is become more united. They're spread out over a number of different trade organizations and the dilemma is that they never speak with a consistent voice about anything."

And anyone who's ever been to Salem knows that if your message isn't clear, it doesn't get through.