https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/1igt3zd/arts_tax_here_we_go_again/
created by arewecooked on 03/02/2025 at 16:30 UTC
29 upvotes, 23 top-level comments (showing 23)
This is my first year in Portland. I was organizing some of my wife’s things about a week ago and found an old letter with… multiple years… where she didn’t pay the arts tax. Some of these years I know for a fact she didn’t live here, but there are quite a few she did.
It kinda worries me because we’re rebuilding our credit after taking on a lot of healthcare debt (we’re so close to being out of it! 🥳). Most of her family has never paid it and never will. I’m just wanting to make sure we don’t end up fucked because of it.
So my question is… is there anyway to know what she owes online? Just trying to get a general idea. I’m afraid to call cause I don’t want them to immediately start pushing her for it since she checked in. 😭
The piece of mail was from like 2022.
Comment by Gr0uchy_Bandic00t_64 at 03/02/2025 at 17:05 UTC
54 upvotes, 2 direct replies
My only advice would be to **save your receipts.** They love to say you didn't pay when you did, and will only back off when you provide the proof their records are screwed up.
Comment by Specific_Key_2777 at 03/02/2025 at 17:10 UTC
14 upvotes, 3 direct replies
If you call and self report they remove most of if not all the fines and may even reduce the amount of years you owe.
Comment by pingveno at 03/02/2025 at 18:00 UTC
23 upvotes, 2 direct replies
In November, sounds like we get to vote on rolling this into property taxes. I'm all for it. I'm fine paying the $35, but it just sucks needing to do it separately.
Comment by Appropriate-Owl7205 at 03/02/2025 at 17:16 UTC
16 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It's super annoying how such a small tax requires you to submit another filing. I don't blame people for forgetting.
Comment by thestereoscopic at 03/02/2025 at 18:23 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I’ve called into the office a couple of times and they have been very helpful.
Comment by folkeFIRE at 03/02/2025 at 17:22 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
God, I hate the arts tax. It’s the only bill in my life that I routinely missed and then struggled to pay once I realized I missed the payment due to Portland’s archaic manner for accepting funds. The one good thing about moving to Gresham last year, and I mean the singular thing that is positive about the decision, is that I won’t have to f*** around trying to figure out how to pay that stupid tax.
Comment by BourbonCrotch69 at 03/02/2025 at 16:38 UTC
9 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Was it addressed to her or to “resident”?
As long as you never pay, you can get away without paying, at least until you purchase a home.
Comment by this_is_Winston at 03/02/2025 at 17:04 UTC
3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Personal friend who never paid and moved to Washington had his wages garnished last year. He said it ended up $800+. I can't remember how he was contacted/notified of the garnishment though.
Comment by Flat-Story-7079 at 03/02/2025 at 16:59 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Enforcement of the Arts Tax is about to increase, quite a bit in fact. If you know people or have family that hasn’t paid it I would expect that they will be hearing from the city, or a collection agency, soon.
Comment by bedlumper at 03/02/2025 at 16:47 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Lookup her tax filings - Oregon resident filings with a relevant address. That’s probably as far as they’d go (assuming they were competent enough to try).
Comment by chickenpotpieme at 03/02/2025 at 17:06 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
You can look up a balance and pay arts tax online at the Portland revenue website. Pro.portland.gov If you want to get your credit right, you should prob suck it up and pay the tax. They already have you and your wife in the system and late fees suck. What’s that saying? Nothing is certain, other than death and taxes.
Comment by Ranchu07 at 03/02/2025 at 17:56 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I didn’t pay mine for years. I finally logged in and I’m paying a little per month. It’s not a big deal but I would try to pay it.
Comment by JayChucksFrank at 03/02/2025 at 19:33 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
People, it's very annoying, but paying it is pretty simple. All I did was search for "Portland Arts Tax" and this is the first page that appears: https://www.portland.gov/revenue/arts-tax[1]
1: https://www.portland.gov/revenue/arts-tax
Within that page is a link to the payment page: https://www.portland.gov/revenue/pay-arts-tax
I imagine most on Reddit are fairly internet savvy, and this was a pretty rudimentary task to find. Regardless of your thoughts on the tax (I'm neither advocating for it nor disparaging it), submitting payment is easy for internet regulars.
Ok, now send those downvotes hahaha
Comment by dschinghiskhan at 03/02/2025 at 19:56 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I remember when the Portland Tribune printed the names of everyone who *had in fact* paid the Arts Tax, and someone with my same name, which isn’t very common, had paid for the Arts Tax. No shaming for me from my neighbors- who were the type that might actually say something.
Quite a few people I know have never paid the Arts Tax. I think I may have read on this sub over the years that someone actually got sent to collections, but as far as I know they only threaten it. I’ve never had my credit affected by not paying it.
Comment by Das_Glove at 03/02/2025 at 18:25 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The short answer is no, they have no idea what you owe. I got a letter from the Revenue Bureau last year telling me I owed $100 from 2016, 2017, and 2018. How they got 3 x 35 = 100 is still a mystery.
I went to my bank (my old bank because I had closed the account years ago) to get copies of the old checks. I remembered I wrote "201x Arts Tax" in the memo line because I had anticipated problems. As soon as I told the teller that I was looking for any check in the amount of $35 he said "oh, is this for the art tax?" because apparently this happens a lot.
Anyway I sent in copies of the canceled checks and got a letter back basically saying, yeah you're right, looks like you did pay.
KEEP YOUR RECORDS. They'll send you to collections over this shit, it's infuriating.
Comment by shwilliams4 at 03/02/2025 at 17:14 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Nope you have to call. And the totally fucked up a data migration so everyone’s data is wrong.
Comment by MembershipEasy4025 at 03/02/2025 at 19:13 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I don’t even know how you’re supposed to know about it or pay it. I’ve seen similar Reddit posts as this so I’m vaguely aware, but I closed on my place in May and haven’t received anything yet.
Comment by occasional_coconut at 03/02/2025 at 20:22 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I know it doesn't actually make sense, but I wish people with arts-related jobs were exempt.
Comment by notPabst404 at 03/02/2025 at 16:48 UTC
-1 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Thanks for reminding me, I'm going to have to figure out how to file state and local taxes while boycotting federal taxes.
Comment by robotpoopbolt at 03/02/2025 at 17:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Arts tax is dumb.
Comment by FuzzDice at 03/02/2025 at 17:43 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I despise this tax with every drop of my very being
Comment by humanclock at 03/02/2025 at 17:15 UTC
0 upvotes, 0 direct replies
And I just had to renew all those damn domains for my fan merch, as even mentioned in WW:
Comment by CautiousWoodpecker10 at 03/02/2025 at 20:36 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Don’t pay it. Period. I never paid when I lived in Portland and never had any problems. It’s a stupid tax anyways.