The biggest surprise in this month’s survey is how our readers greeted the idea of  relaxing Oregon’s land-use laws to make way for more development. Of the 715 respondents to our online survey conducted  by Conkling Fiskum & McCormick, 51% say  they favor relaxing land-use laws, while 49%  say they are opposed. Considering the lopsided victory of Measure 37 last year, it’s striking that our readers appear more evenly split.

Also notable is that while respondents say  rising property prices have not propelled  them and their businesses out of Oregon, Eric  Fruits, senior economist with Portland-based  economic consulting firm ECONorthwest,  predicts that an exodus still will happen,  but because of taxes, not property prices. “In  the next few years, you’re going to see a flow  of people across the river to do their business,” Fruits says, because the tax system in  Washington is more beneficial to small professional firms. Ah, taxes. Watch this space in  upcoming issues for an exploration of that  second thing that no one escapes.

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Research conducted by Conkling Fiskum & McCormick.