As far as I can tell these taxes end getting paid by the customers through higher prices.

Look at it this way:
If you owned a restaurant and all restaurants got a tax increase of $10,000, would you pay it out of your take home pay, or raise your prices to pass it on to you customers?

On the other hand if you were a manufacturer competing with manufacturers in other states, you would have to eat the tax increase. Or lay off some employees. Or not give out the next wage increase. Or move out of state.

As far as I can tell that is the reality.

Thanks
JK

It's not clear how much Comcast can really pass this tax on. They're regulated, to some extent, and they've got lots of competition these days.

And even if I had to pay more, it would be worth it to watch the mighty be humbled.

Umm...unless I've misread the stats gleaned from your site, Comcast is your ISP. Even if you believe that they have lots of competition (we'll have to agree to disagree on that)it probably isn't a good idea to bite the hand that feeds your IT unless you've a better option lined up.

Qwest? Not likely; they're about to be taken over by a small Florida-based company. FIOS? They're already cutting back service in the Portland metro area.

What? You considering Verizon? If so, I'd think long and hard on that one.

Just sayin'.

Comcast's repeated jacking of my cable bill doesn't seem all that bloody justified to me so to watch them howl about this is a bit ironic.

Jack

As a leader in the Valuation field, are you really comfortable with a state government determining the value of intangibles such as "reputation" and "patents" and "financial worth"?

Has there been any academic or professional research on the valuation method for valuing "reputation"?

Jack -

I'm not persuaded that Comcast, in terms of its rates or profits, is regulated, at least for cable TV and ISP Broadband services.

Certainly neither Oregon PUC nor Oregon DOJ have any authority to "regulate" Comcast's financials.

ODOJ, under the Unlawful Trade Practices Act, can and has regulated some of Comcast's more inventive marketing ploys.

And in the PDX area, Multnomah County Cable Regulation Bureau regulates some service issues.

But last I looked, courtesy of that great Oregonian and consumer champion, Bob Packwood, the cable on internet providers are totally unregulated as to rates, fees, etc.

I may be wrong, and welcome a correction from a knowledgible writer, but I do believe brother Bob took good care of the cable companies way back when.

If Comcast gets its tax refund, do you think they'll give refunds to their cable customers? Ha! Ha!

Refund to customers?

Absofutudidly not!

The only thing regulated for the cable TV companies is:

1. It's "Basic" offering.

2. The right to operate.

The CATV companies have to file a tariff with the local franchise manager, but they are free to charge what they want.

I have Verizon FIOS (now Frontier FIOS) and I'm happy with it. Told Comcast where they could shove it over a year ago. The only thing Comcast is good at is plastering everything in sight with its advertisements. I get at least three mailings a week, not including the "coupon clipper" that includes another Comcast ad. I see at least a dozen bus stops with Comcast ads. I'm forced to see their ads on TV (I wish Frontier had a way to block them.) And of course half the billboards from my home to my work. Maybe if Comcast spent less money on advertising and more on service.........

So, the state has budget problems, and then all the sudden they just decided that Comcast's property is worth 350% more? Awesome. I'm not a huge Comcast fan (its the only ISP I can get.) But I hope the state doesn't do that to the rest of us just to fill the budget gaps.
No wonder businesses are leaving the state.