Category: “In This State” Lawsuit
Legal challenge against the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners regarding the extraterritorial interpretation of “in this state” in licensing statutes. Includes filings, legislative history, statutory analysis, and agency conduct.
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The Circular Logic of Oregon’s Licensing Theory
Chapter 4 of Licensed to Exploit: The OBTP Accountability Project When the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners says that a tax preparer must be licensed “in this state,” they don’t mean what you think they mean. They don’t mean physically in Oregon. They don’t mean domiciled or doing business in Oregon. They don’t even mean… Read more
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The Attorney General’s Disinterest in Due Process
Chapter 3 of Licensed to Exploit: The OBTP Accountability Project If the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners built the wall, the Department of Justice sealed it. I requested fee waivers for multiple public record requests. And, as is true to their character, the OBTP’s denied them. I appealed the denial to the Attorney General’s office.… Read more
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Newspeak Begins with “In”: Why 1973 Still Matters
In a world edging closer to 1984, even a preposition isn’t safe. Words Mean Things—Until They Don’t In 1973, Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary gave us a clear, structured, and uncorrupted definition of the word “in.” It was simple: a function word indicating inclusion, location, or position within limits. Whether something was in the house, in… Read more
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The $6,000 Paywall
Chapter 2 of Licensed to Exploit: The OBTP Accountability Project The price of asking questions? $6,000. That’s what the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners told me it would cost to access records related to their unprecedented claim that out-of-state tax preparers must be licensed in Oregon. I had filed three separate public records requests—each asking… Read more
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The Inquiry They Didn’t Want
It started with a calm, reasonable question: Where’s the rule? On October 3, 2024, I asked the Oregon Board of Tax Practitioners to show their work—meeting minutes, internal memos, anything that justified their claim that out-of-state tax preparers must be licensed in Oregon. Their response? Delay, deflection, and a denial of my fee waiver on… Read more