Who Has to Pay the Portland Arts Tax and Who Is Exempt

You have to pay the Portland Arts Tax if you’re 18 or older, lived inside Portland city limits for any part of the tax year, personally earned $1,000 or more in income the city is allowed to tax, and your household’s total income is above the federal poverty level.¹ The tax is a flat $35 per qualifying adult. If you fail any one of those tests, you don’t owe it, though you may still need to file a return to claim the exemption.

The Three Tests That Decide Whether You Owe

All three must be true in the same tax year:¹

You’re 18 or older by December 31 of the tax year.
You personally have $1,000 or more in annual income the city is legally allowed to tax.
Your household’s total annual income is above the federal poverty level.

Miss any one of these and you don’t owe the $35. The second test is where most of the confusion lives, because “income the city can tax” is narrower than “income” as you normally think of it.

Do You Live Inside Portland City Limits?

Portland City Code Chapter 5.73 ties the tax to residency inside the official city boundary. If you lived within Portland for any part of the tax year, you owe the full $35. There is no proration.¹ Someone who moved in during November owes the same amount as someone who lived there all twelve months, and someone who moved out in February still owes for that year.

Residents of Gresham, Beaverton, Milwaukie, or unincorporated parts of the metro area don’t owe the tax, no matter where they work or how often they come into Portland. What matters is whether your home address falls inside the city line, not whether you have a Portland mailing address. The Portland Maps tool lets you check any address and see whether “Portland” shows up under the Jurisdiction field.¹

Income the City Can and Cannot Tax

The city defines taxable income broadly. Wages, self-employment earnings, investment dividends, interest from personal savings, rental income, child support, alimony, disability payments, unemployment compensation, and proceeds from selling stocks or property all count toward the $1,000 threshold.² The city can also tax some income that federal or state governments choose not to, so your federal return isn’t a reliable guide.

Federal and state law block Portland from taxing certain income sources. If your only income comes from these protected categories, your taxable income for Arts Tax purposes is effectively zero and you don’t owe the $35, no matter how much you receive. Protected sources include:²

Social Security benefits
Oregon Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) benefits
Federal pension benefits (FERS and CSRS)
Railroad Retirement Act benefits
VA disability benefits
Interest from U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds

If most of your income is protected but you also earn something from a taxable source, the $1,000 test applies only to the taxable portion.³ A retiree with $30,000 in Social Security and $800 from a part-time job doesn’t owe. The same retiree earning $1,200 from that job does.

Watch for one trap: unemployment compensation isn’t on the protected list. The city counts it as taxable income for Arts Tax purposes.

The Household Poverty-Level Exemption

Even when you clear the age and personal income tests, you’re exempt if your household’s total annual income sits at or below the federal poverty level. The Department of Health and Human Services sets the figures each year. For 2026, the guidelines for the 48 contiguous states are:⁴

1 person: $15,960
2 people: $21,640
3 people: $27,320
4 people: $33,000

The exemption isn’t automatic. You still have to file an Arts Tax return each year and select the poverty-level exemption on it.³

What About Married Couples?

The Arts Tax is assessed per person, not per household. If both spouses live in Portland and each individually earns $1,000 or more in taxable income, each owes $35, for a household total of $70. If only one spouse has taxable income reaching $1,000, only that spouse owes.¹ You can file and pay for both in one transaction, but the obligation itself belongs to each individual.

Permanent Exemption for Seniors and Disabled Residents

If you’re 70 or older, or permanently disabled, and your only income comes from sources the city cannot tax (Social Security, PERS, federal pensions, VA disability, or U.S. Treasury interest), you can request a permanent filing exemption and stop filing a return each year.³ If your situation later changes and you start receiving taxable income, you’re responsible for telling the Revenue Division and filing again for any year you no longer qualify.

If You Owe, Know the Deadline

The Arts Tax is due on the same date as your federal return, generally April 15, and there’s no extension. Filing a federal or Oregon extension doesn’t push the Arts Tax deadline. A $15 late-filing penalty hits the day after the due date, and a further $20 penalty is added if the tax remains unpaid six months later. An ignored $35 bill can grow to $70 by mid-October, and accounts that stay delinquent may be referred to a third-party collection agency.¹

1
Portland.gov. Arts Tax Filing and Payment Information
2
Portland.gov. LIC-11.01 – Definitions
3
Portland.gov. Arts Tax Exemptions
4
ASPE – HHS.gov. 2026 Poverty Guidelines: 48 Contiguous States