Recently, Oregon adopted legislation that will make significant changes to noncompetition and arbitration agreements. On August 3, 2007, Governor Kulongoski signed Senate Bill 248, which modifies Oregon noncompete law (ORS 653.295). The current law in Oregon (until January 1, 2008) generally provides that noncompetition agreements, to be enforceable, must be signed by the employee either upon initial employment or upon a “bona fide advancement.” Effective January 1, 2008, some major revisions to the law come into effect.
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In March 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice released more than 3,000 pages of internal emails relating to the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Not one of those emails was from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The nation’s top lawyer does not communicate through email. Neither does Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nor former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
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Two years ago Congress passed the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (“EGTRRA”)
1. From an estate tax perspective, the centerpiece of EGTRRA is its gradual increase in the amount a taxpayer can pass at death, the “applicable exclusion amount” from $675,000 in 2001 to $1,000,000 in 2002, $1,500,000 in 2004, $2,000,000 in 2006, and $3,500,000 in 2009
2. In 2010 the estate tax is repealed. However, in 2011 EGTRRA “sunsets”
3 and the amount reverts to $1,000,000.
4 In addition to the increase in the applicable exclusion amount, the marginal rate of taxation decreases from 55% pre-EGTRRA to 50% in 2002 and gradually to 45% by 2007.
5
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Originally published March 17, 2006 in the Portland Business Journal
The best way for you to determine the benefits of a will and trust depend on your particular circumstances.
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Oregon has generally been characterized as a “pick-up tax” state since January 1, 1987, meaning that the Oregon inheritance tax liability equals the amount allowed as the state death tax credit on the federal estate tax return. However, Oregon does not automatically track with the changes made to the federal law for purposes of calculating the Oregon inheritance tax (as it does for purposes of calculating the Oregon income tax). So the increases to the federal estate tax credit scheduled under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (“EGTRRA”) do not automatically apply for purposes of calculating a taxpayer’s Oregon inheritance tax liability.
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