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--> State income inequality among tops in the nation Ashland Daily Tidings A recent study from the Oregon Center for Public Policy has some dire news: the rich are getting richer, and most are doing worse. For the past twenty years, income inequality has increased in Oregon more than most other states, the report notes. What's more, while Oregon's economy has grown and the state's highest-income families have seen large gains, most Oregon families saw little change at best, and many faced declining incomes. While middle-income Oregonians gained less than three-quarters of a percent in a year in terms of income (far less than inflation), upper-income familes gained 3.4 percent annually. The report also shows that since the late 1980s, the gap between the poorest 20 percent of Oregon's families, and the richest 20 percent grew faster than any other state, save Connecticut. For low-income families, average annual income fell by $1,000 a year, while upper-income families saw a meteoric rise - about $36,000 on average. To rectify the situation, the Oregon Center for Public Policy is recommending opposing further tax cuts for the rich, and opposes Ballot Measure 88, which according to a release from the OCPP would unfairly "reward those who already benefited from the economic boom of the late 1990s." Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing