By Janet Loughrey

Loughrey is a freelance writer and photographer. She lives in Portland.

If you’re behind on paying Portland’s arts tax, beware. Controversial since its inception, some 25 percent of Portland residents are out of compliance with the $35-a-year tax.

I am one of those who fell behind. During a personally challenging time seven years ago, I tossed the tax bill on a pile of mail and forgot about it. A late notice stated that the amount owed jumped from $35 to $70, which seemed outrageous. At the same time, lawsuits as to the constitutionality of the tax had been filed, and thousands of disgruntled Portlanders continued to skip out. Since the tax was loosely enforced and my taxable income in most years exempted me from paying, I wasn’t that concerned.

Recently, I received a notice from a company in Michigan stating I owed the City of Portland more than $500 for the arts tax, including penalties and fees. I received no prior warning, even though the city says it sends final “demand letters” to taxpayers before sending their bills to a collections agency. I then contacted the city’s revenue office and submitted my tax returns. Because I fell below the federal poverty line for some of the years, the office told me I would only owe three years of tax, which amounts to $105. I was willing to pay right away but was told I had to deal with the collections agency. Shortly after, I received a robocall saying I owed $299 and that if I didn’t pay, my bank account would be garnished. The phone number was different than the one listed on the collections bill, so I couldn’t tell if this was related or a scam.

I e-mailed the revenue office last month, stating I was not clear on what I owed and was not willing to disclose my financial information to an unknown company. I copied the message to the mayor’s office and city council and have heard nothing back. The city relinquished my personal information to an unknown party without my knowledge or consent, which should be illegal. I don’t know if that information has been sold or otherwise compromised, or if my credit has been damaged.

All this, for $105 in taxes.

There is much that is wrong with the arts tax. The excessive late penalty—which is predatory and punitive – appears intentional so the city can bump up the amount to justify enforcement through collections. I’ll likely be forced to pay hundreds of dollars more than I owe. This heavy-handed treatment of “offenders” is vicious and tyrannical. It criminalizes otherwise law-abiding, tax-paying citizens, and places an unreasonable burden on the poor. It appears there’s no limit on what the city can do, including raising the tax for any amount at any time. There’s nothing to say the existing penalty won’t be arbitrarily increased. Meanwhile, the city spends more on administration and enforcement of the tax than voters authorized when they approved the tax. Apparently, accountability is a one-way street.

It’s time to re-evaluate the validity of this tax, and whether it should continue to exist.