Oregon wildfire survivors to pay federal taxes on settlements next year after state bill failed

A bill that would have provided some federal tax relief on settlements paid to survivors of utility-caused wildfires died in the final hours of the Oregon legislative session in June, despite early bipartisan support.

Advocates of the proposal that would have required utilities to cover the cost of federal income taxes on settlements to wildfire survivors attributed the failure to a last-minute decision by Democratic lawmakers to tweak the bill and roll it into a…