"Look, Mom, it's Mr. Wilson's 1099!"

Here's a big boo-boo by the Oregon state tax department.

[T]he Oregon Department of Revenue... acknowledged Thursday that it sent personal tax refund information for about 5,000 taxpayers to the wrong address.

All 5,000 are intended for, and were mailed to, Portland residents, said Robin Maxey, a spokesperson for the department. The mailing address on the outside, however, doesn’t match up with the information contained on the forms.

The 1099-G forms include the names, the addresses, the last four digits of the taxpayer’s Social Security number and the amount of their state and local tax refunds from last year. 

It doesn't get much more incompetent than that. They're blaming it on a "vendor." Wait, a private vendor is addressing that state's 1099 forms?

But don't worry, one of Kate Brown's all-purpose bureaucrats (her previous gig was road tolls) is going to make double-dip sure that it never happens again. 

You would hope not. State law strictly forbids disclosure of someone's tax return information. Is their refund not part of that? It could be. Is negligent disclosure excused?

Anyway, the PERS-ies in Salem need to be more careful. A lot more careful.