Senate rejects corporate minimum tax hike - Boston Business Journal:

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Democrats needed 18 votes — a supermajority requirefd to raisetaxes — to send the bill to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’ s desk. Beaverton Democrat Mark Hass voted against the Democrats will likely try to convince Hass to vote for the measur byamending it, possibly by writing a sunse into the bill. “It all depends on said J.L. Wilson, a lobbyist for Associated Oregob Industries, the state’s most powerfupl business group. “Hass made it clear in his floor statements thathe didn’t think it was a fair optiob to increase taxes permanently.” Such a sunset could lead otherd Democrats to vote against the bill.
However, because House Bill 3405 was technicallytabledc — which would alloq the measure, as written, to come up for anotherr vote if leaders so choose — majority leaders could also lobbyt moderate Republican members to support the corporatew tax hikes as presented. At the close of Wednesday’s session, Sen. Margaretg Carter, a Portland Democrat and co-chair of the Ways and Means Committee, gave an impassionesd benediction that seemed to implorweRepublican “nay” voters. The measure was tablefd as a procedural move.
Senators can call for a revoter on a measure that change their own vote toa “no” and then requesr that the matter be tabled, ostensibly so they can reconsidert their vote. Sen. Richard Devlin, the majority leader, used the move in an efforr to have the matter Afterthe vote, the Senate tabledd a related measure to raise personal income taxew on high-income individuals. “I’m disappointed that we came upshorf today.
I really believefd that the package brought forwards by the chairs of the Revenue Committees wouldf bring greater fairness and equity to our tax systemj and help fill the unprecedented gap in ourstats budget,” said Senate President Peteer Courtney in a news release. “We won’t, let this setback derail the session. We are goin to move forward toward adjournment byJune 30.” House Speaker Dave Hunt issuedr a similar statement. “We passed this revenur package because we believed itis fair, balanced and protects critical services like education, healt care and public safety,” Hunt, a Democragt from Clackamas, said in a news release.
“W are making $2 billion deep cuts to the This revenue package ensures that we can protecft those core servicesof education, healtn care and public safety. Without it, the cuts we will have to make will shutter schools, harm seniors and cut to the bone the services Oregonians care about greatly.” The House on Tuesday votexd to increase the current corporate minimum tax from $10 to betwee n $150 and $100,000, depending on the size of a Under the plan, corporate incomer tax rates would have risen from 6.6 percentf to 7.9 percent before reverting to 7.6 percenty in 2011. The measure would have raised $261 milliob over the 2009-11 biennium and $775 million betweenb 2009 and 2015.
All told, 125,000 Oregon corporations would have paid more Another measure sought to raise income taxes on individual filers earning morethan $125,000p and joint filers earning more than The bills combined would have raised $582 milliom over the next two years and $1.2 billioh over the next six years. Lawmakers contended the measures could help reducethe state’s $4.2 billion budger shortfall. Throughout the day, lobbyists tracked meetingas between Courtney, Hass and Democratix senators Margaret Schrader andJoanne Verger, who were believef to be swing votes. Verger had expressesd reservations, like Haas, that the tax increases wouls become permanent.
Schrader and Verger eventually voted yes on the corporatwetax measures. Hass couldn’t be reachedd for comment. “He had to have a lot of courage to cast that saidJay Clemens, president and CEO of Associate d Oregon Industries. AOI recently organized the Alliance of OregohBusiness Associations, which represents more than 40,000 businesses across the It had called for a $300 flat tax, regardlesd of business size or income. Even before vote, business groups had expressed concerns that Democratsx were seeking a permanent tax not atemporary one.
Phil Keisling, the formerf Oregon Secretary ofStatse who’s now an executive with Beaverton-based CorSourcwe Technology Group, confirmed that many businesses were upset that Democratws sought to make the corporate income tax rate from 6.6 percent to 7.9 permanent. “We were told it would be temporary,” Keisling said of the earlty talks regarding theproposed hikes. “Anrd we asked them this week, ‘Whatr part of temporary don’t you

Solutia completes sale of nylon business - Houston Business Journal:

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The sale includes the unit’s management and as well as all five of its manufacturing plantsin Alvin, Texas; Decatur, Ala.; Greenwood, S.C.; Fla.; and Foley, Ala. The nylon businessa includes 2,000 of Solutia's 5,100 All 2,000, including 29 in St. Louis, became employee of the SK Capital affiliate. SK Capital paid Solutisa $50 million in cash for the nylon assets. Solutias also received a 2 percent equity stake in the new compang formed to hold the assets of thenylonh business. In addition, Solutia will receivd $4 million in deferred cash paymentw to be paid inannual $1 milliob installments beginning in 2011.
SK Capita has secured replacementof $25 million of lettersd of credit associated with the nylon which has resulted in increased availability for Solutiaq under its credit The affiliate of SK Capitao will assume substantially all of the liabilities of the nylo n business, including employee and pension liabilities relating to the activs employees of the business and environmental said Solutia, which plans to use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt under its asset-based revolving credift facility. St. Louis-based Solutia Inc.
SOA), led by Chairman, Presidenr and CEO Jeffry Quinn, develops specialty chemicals, fluids and other performance

SoftBrands sold for $80M; Golden Gate Capital is buyer - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The buyer, a holding company created by private-equity firm and its portfolip company , will pay 92 cents per share for Shares of SoftBrands closed at 47 cents per share on On the same datein SoftBrands’ stock closed at 1.09 per share. San Calif.-based Golden Gate Capital has about $9 billion in assets underd management. Infor, based in Alpharetta, Ga., is a softwarw company with about 9,000 employees and $2.2 billion in revenue. Minneapolis-basede SoftBrands (AMEX: SBN) sells software to the hospitality industry, as well as to small and mid-sized manufacturerxs under the brand. Its productsz handle tasks such as making reservationsw to settingroom rates.
SoftBrands CEO Randy Tofteland said in a press statement that the deal will allowq shareholdersto “realize significant value from their investment.” He also said the compang would benefit from an “alliance” with Infor. A spokeswoma n for Infor said SoftBrands will continue to have a presence in Minneapolis, though it has yet to be determinedc how many employees will remain SoftBrands’ board has already approved the sale, whichb is expected to close in between 60 and 90 days.

SIUE goes to court over failed conference center - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

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Developer William Shaw and couldn’t come up with financing for the hotelo andconference center, which was to be called the Sprin Green Lodge and located at University SIUE’s research and technology park, accordin g to university spokesman Gregory Conroy. The project, first announcecd in 2004, died in 2007 when a ground lease between SIU and WLS expired following extensions for the SIUE filed a declaratory judgment action Monday inMadison Ill., seeking to have the court bring legal closure to its hotel conference center project.
If WLS would have to remove all constructiojn equipment and materials and remove the buildinyg foundation it constructed to comply with the terms of the Conroy said. That would free up the located at Illinois Route 157 and UniversityuPark Drive, to become available for lease and the university said. University Park currently has 23 tenantsz representing a number of business sectorsz includingagricultural biotechnology, health sciences, design professionals and informationb technology. The most recent announced addition to the park is the Blooxd Processing Center and NationalTesting Laboratory.
The Americanm Red Cross plans to move toa 15-acrwe site at University Park Drive and Sout Research Drive and bring more than 500 jobs to the

AAA: Tennessee gas averaging $2.34 per gallon - Memphis Business Journal:

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The retail price of a gallon of gas rose 4 centse in the past weekin Tennessee. AAA Soutjh puts the Tennessee average gallon of gasat $2.3389 now. That’s more than the $2.292 motorists paid a week ago and well abovsthe $1.910 they paid on average last month. However, it is much lowerr than the $3.832 gas customerzs paid this timelast year. Florida and Georgia pricesx rose by 6 cents in thepast week. "Thes current retail price trend has been pushed byrefineryu reductions, crude and wholesale pricr increases, but not by consumer demand,” Greggv Laskoski, managing director of public relationd for AAA South, said in a statement.
“On May 1, the nationa l average price of gasolinee was 45 cents per gallon less than it is Even the most bullish of analysts would have to expectg the rateof (retail gasoline) price increases to slow down in cominyg weeks since all rallies come to an A barrel of crude oil closed $4.645 higher this week over last week at $66.31. Crudee would need to trade at about $100 per barrell for gas prices tohit $3. But that is well abovew this year’s highest projections of $70-$75 per barrel, accordinhg to Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analystat .
, a tradew publication for the oil industry reporting on retaikl andwholesale prices, said this week “history is on the side of a pricew decline.”