Many people that voted for the arts tax now have complaints about the collection method. What do you, the readers, think?

The Arts Tax is a regressive unconstitutional head tax that is making the arts get less funding. Fuck this stupid law.

You got an email Denis because you paid it last year and now they know who you are. I get no such emails.

Everyone hates this tax. 62% voted for it and some large share of them apparently regret it. It isn't really what we voted on anyway because the Council has since changed it.

Cut it to $20 per househould for schools only and put it on the water bill at $5/quarter. Give the RACC nothing.

I'm just waiting for the moment PPS has one year's arts tax revenue come in way under projections (another recession) and the board says, "oh no, we diverted all of this other funding away from the arts because we had this magical, isolated revenue source so now your kid's music/art/drama teacher is out of a job."

"TAXES WE DON'T LIKE ARE DUMB!"

— deep thinkers

Anyway, you guys are getting your $35 worth of griping in. You're making it almost an art form.

@Todd: It's not that people have a problem with paying taxes. I think we all understand that taxes are needed to pay for services. The problem that we have with the law is that it the way it's structured and managed is deeply flawed. The city does not have the mechanisms in place to properly handle the collection or the management of this tax effectively.

Until RAAC is cut out of the equation, I'm not paying. Opera/theatre/ballet/symphony fans can subsidize their own habits.

Unasked for copyediting advice: I'm sure I'm not the first to mention this, but it never hurts to repeat. The Oregonian may be a shadow of it's once mighty self, but the "T" in The Oregonian is still capitalized.

Graham, I don't like the tax either. Call it unconstitutional, fine, that's your opinion. My main ire is reserved for the "I won't pay, they can't make me" types. They remind me of, and in my opinion give comfort to, right-wing tax-avoidance types and tea partiers. Until you can get the tax revoked, cough up your nine-point-five-nine cents a day (or move to Hillsboro).

Yes Todd, and until gay marriage is legal in Oregon, homosexuals should stop loving each other (or move to Washington).

Yes, Chuck, your 35 bucks is a civil rights issue! Preach it! Better yet, get the tax repealed or overturned. Or just keep jawing on Blogtown, whichever.

The law is an opinion with a gun.

Aphorisms are like assholes, etc.

All I'm saying is the "if you don't like it move to the burbs" line is bullshit and the notion that something being law somehow makes it right is equally moronic.

Different places, different taxes. If that nine cents a day is really getting up your ass, pick a different place. Or organize a petition drive to repeal the tax or...just keep whining. Pretty sure I know which you'll do.

Im not paying a tax that violates the supreme law of the land the United States constitution which clearly states the congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes and all taxation shall be uniform throughout the United States.Uniform means every has to pay this tax including the Pers retirees.The constitution dont allow favoritism in taxation which this art tax clearly has and why many portlanders refuse to pay an unfair tax that breaks and violates the supreme law of the law that the portland city council and city attorney's office did not clearly look at very well before this went on the ballot.

I bet Blogtown would overwhelmingly approve a "Todd Sucks" tax

Regardless of whether you think the tax is unfair, wrong, ineptly organized, illegal, or whatever, I still don't see how simply not paying it is the most sensible, financially prudent way to go about protesting it. If it is eventually found to be unconstitutional, then you will be reimbursed; if it isn't, then you will end up having to pay it anyway, along with interest and/or late fees. How is ending up giving them more of your money than they originally asked for helping your cause?

And, Blabby, do you really think that you'll remain under the radar for much longer? Don't you pay federal and state taxes? Don't you vote? Library card? Car insurance? All of these things prove that you live in town. How long do you think it'll be before the Art Tax folks put two and two together and finally send you that email? Best to just pay it now while continuing to work to get it overturned.

The exemptions in this tax clearly violate the law of the land.

This is without a doubt the most horribly conceived and worst implemented tax ever developed by humankind. I'd be happy to pay $35/year for arts in schools, if that's actually where it went, AND IF THE TAX WEREN'T AN UNBELIEVABLE FUCKING BOONDOGGLE.

Also - how is getting a measure passed, then saying OOPSIE WE FORGOT TO NOT REGRESSIVELY TAX PEOPLE MAKING LIKE $2 A YEAR, then changing 17 fucking things about it even legal? It's not the same tax that was voted for. What's to stop them from raising it to $350 next? Hyperbole? Maybe, but I've still never gotten a good answer on how city pols can do whatever they like with a measure that was passed that had, like, specific words in it and stuff.

Just fucking revoke the thing already.

Fuck the "street fee" too.

@Chunty: I'd pay that tax.

You devious bastards.

You'll get my vote every time with a "Hail Satan".

This comment thread needs more fluoride.

Margaret Thatcher would be proud of the arts tax - it taxes the rich and lower-middle-class at the same fixed $35 per capita and sends the money to organizations like RACC, who is responsible for those rusty piles of shit at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge.

The transportation tax is another steaming pile of regressive taxation as well.

BTW, I paid it, but don't come running to me to support an arts event - I gave at City Hall.