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| Measures 66 and 67 Pass |
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What will be the effect of the tax increase passed by ballot on January 26th? Voters approved Ballot Measures 66 and 67 by a wide margin on January 26th. The tax increases have generated considerable controversy, as is obvious by ads both in opposition and in favor of the tax increases. How did the measures pass, and what will be their effect? The Legislative Fiscal Office and Legislative Revenue Office say that Measure 66 will increase the tax rate for households with annual incomes above $250,000 by 1.8%. Measure 67 raise the corporate minimum tax above an oh-so-oppressive $10, for the first time since its inception in 1931. According to the Revenue and Fiscal offices, over 97% of Oregon businesses (and nearly all small businesses) will pay $150 (the new minimum) or see no change at all; businesses that are classified as under sole proprietorship (or, owned by a single person) will see no tax increase, while LLCs, S-Corps, and most C-Corps will pay the new minimum. Only the largest businesses will pay more than the $150. In addition, people on unemployment will be taxed less on their benefits. The tax increases were passed by the legislature as part of the 2009 budget, and were in response to the $4 billion shortage created by the so-called “Great Recession.” The legislation includes tough cuts in law enforcement and higher education budgets, to name a few, totaling $2 billion, while also making use of federal stimulus dollars. The other, more controversial part of the legislation was the increase in taxes to fill the budget vacuum, totaling $727 million. The increases were opposed by the usual, cleverly named groups of state tax activist groups — the “Americans for Prosperity” and, not surprisingly, teabagger affiliates “FreedomWorks.” The two groups gathered over 100,000 signatures in support of a referendum on the tax measures. According to data from the state government, if the measures had failed, the consequences would have been dire. University and community college students would have seen tuition increases and reductions to financial aid programs. The closing of six state prisons would cause the release of a projected 1,900 inmates, and the loss of up to 64 state police officers. Without the tax increase, mental health treatment and services across the state would experience cuts, and there would be increased classroom sizes in K-12 schools. Although the newly passed measures will help, Oregon is not in the clear yet. The budget problems are likely to continue as long as the recession does, and as long as Oregon continues to base budgets on two-year economic forecasts. Until the economic situation and arcane Oregon legislative system is revised, don't expect the budget problems or talk of new taxes to disappear. For the time being, budgetary problems have been addressed, so tuition increases and the loss of public safety officers has been forestalled. References: Information gathered from Our Oregon, a non-profit non-partisan group supporting these measures. Their info came from the Legislative Office and Revenue Office. Their website can be found at http://ouroregon.org/  |
Comments
People who don't know much about Criminal Justice policy (government policy) will assume the law is there to keep the bad guys in prison and if it costs us more tax dollars than we can afford then that's superb! No, only someone who knows squat about government policy would assume imprisonment is justifable regardless of how expensive it is (for us Oregonians, it is REALLY expensive). This kind of thinking is what leads us to the passing of Measure 66 and 67. We wouldn't be at this point if Measure 11 wasn't passed by a bunch of uneducated folk :-D. If they knew their government financial policies and their Criminal Justice policies the measure would've been deemed a regressive, overly expensive and economy-drainin g policy.
If you want proof of the too costly aspect and the background info. on Measure 11 I encourage you to read these pdf files (thank you for your response :-)):
The costs of crime, victimization and incarceration:
http://www.oregon.gov/CJC/CostBenefitMeth odoldy090106.pdf
http://www.oregon.gov/CJC/docs/2007cjcreport.pdf
Measure 11:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/commsrvs/background_briefs2006/PublicSafety/Measure11F.pdf
http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/RESRCH/measure_11.shtml
Don't forget Measure 5, which completely restructured the tax system in Oregon which shifted 82% of the state income tax to account for all of Oregon's state budget by capping property taxes at per assessed ,000 value.
Measure 5 made funding between districts somewhat more even but also left schools all over Oregon in a perpetual state of funding deficiency ever since.
This should be viewed for what it is: an adjustment to normalize the long-standing fee to current money values, plus a modest .44 increase (75 cents in 1931 dollars).