The U.S. Congress isn't the only legislative body being irresponsible with its tax laws. We see that users of the popular TurboTax return preparation software have been complaining because TurboTax hasn't yet updated its Oregon program to reflect the latest tax law changes for 2010 returns.

We're no big fan of the level of attention TurboTax pays to state tax matters, but in this case, the blame is misplaced. The Oregon Legislature didn't get around to finalizing the tax laws for 2010 until March 8, 2011! Maybe two and a half weeks is a long time to wait for TurboTax to reflect the changes, but the fact that Salem is deciding how to tax transactions that happened 14 months earlier is the real disgrace. As my old Latin teacher, Eugene Sanzo, used to say, "There's something rotten in Denmark, and it ain't the cheese."