Oregon Office of Economic Analysis

This morning the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis released the latest quarterly economic and revenue forecast. For the full document, slides and forecast data please see our main website. Below is the forecast’s Executive Summary.

The economy is on firmer ground today following a rocky start to the year. The combination of softer economic data and concerns over potential policy mistakes raised the risk of recession. However as the data flow improves, and the Federal Reserve’s dovish pivot, recession fears have faded. That said the economy is slowing down following last year’s tax cut fueled growth. Economic gains over the upcoming 2019-21 biennium will be more in-line with underlying growth in the labor force and productivity. Encouragingly, the latter has shown signs of life recently due to the tighter labor market. The recent escalation in the trade war is a wildcard. It is too soon to know how disruptive it may be to global supply chains as developments are ongoing.

While the U.S. economy is just now beginning to slow, Oregon’s has for the past few years. Now, the state continues to see healthy rates of growth. However Oregon is no longer significantly outpacing the nation like it was a couple of years ago. Overall, this was not unexpected. So far this biennium, actual employment, personal income, and population in Oregon have closely tracked the forecast.

Looking forward, Oregon’s economic outlook calls for ongoing, but slower growth this year and next. The tighter labor market, somewhat fewer in-migrants, fading federal fiscal stimulus and past interest rate hikes all cool economic activity. That said, Oregon continues to hit the sweet spot. Growth is strong enough to keep up with a growing population but also deliver economic and income gains to Oregonians. This pattern is expected to continue until the next recession, whenever it comes.

While economic growth in Oregon is slowing down as expected, the same cannot be said for our General Fund tax revenues.  During the peak tax filing season, Oregon saw record collections of both personal and corporate income taxes. Both are up more than 50% relative to this time last year. Now, most other states that depend on income taxes have also experienced very big years. However, tax collections have come in far above what underlying economic gains could reasonably support.

Clearly, taxpayer responses to federal tax reform are playing a large role in these record collections. Law changes have broadened the tax base for some business income, and have given taxpayers the incentive to shift the timing of their payments.  With lower tax rates in 2018, filers tried to recognize as much income as possible during the tax year. How much liability remains to be realized in future years is an open question.

Projected 2017-19 Net General Fund resources are up $883 million from the May 2019 forecast.  Including Lottery revenues, net resources are up $908 million.  As a result, Oregon’s unique kicker law has been triggered for both personal and corporate taxes.  A record (in dollar terms) $1.4 billion personal kicker is projected for 2019-21, while corporate tax revenue of $616 million is projected to be dedicated to K-12 education spending.

Given Oregon’s economic and revenue forecast history, kicker payments of this size are a once a decade event. The median filer will receive a kicker credit of $338 next year, while the average filer will receive a credit of $691.  Filers in the top 1% of the income distribution will receive a credit of nearly $14,000.

Heading into the next biennium, uncertainty about the performance of the regional economy will become paramount.  Growth will certainly slow to a more sustainable rate in the coming years, but the path taken to get there is unknown.  Capacity constraints, an aging workforce, monetary policy drags and fading stimulus all put a lid on growth a couple of years down the road.  However, the exact timing and steepness of this deceleration is difficult to predict, leading to a wide range of possible revenue outcomes for the 2019-21 biennium. 

See our full website for all the forecast details. Our presentation slides for the forecast release to the Legislature are below.