Oregon Department of Revenue business division cites enforcement gains, lodging-tax challenges in budget briefing

Oregon Department of Revenue Director Betsy Eimholt and Business Division Administrator Katie Lawley told the Joint Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government on March 11 that the business division has increased enforcement activity and improved some customer-service measures while continuing to implement several new tax programs.

Lawley said the division handled more than 106,000 calls in calendar year 2024 and reduced average wait times to about 6.5 minutes. The division completed nearly 110,000 enforcement cases in the business division last year, and staff attended 96 outreach events statewide. Lawley said registration work increased to about 33,600 items and that the division reviews returns that cannot be processed automatically and checks refunds before they are issued.

Why it matters: The business division administers many state and locally delegated tax programs that affect employers and retail businesses; changes to enforcement and collection affect state and local revenue and taxpayer experience.

Division workload and program counts: Lawley said the department administers…