TAX THE RICH (AND/OR BORING)
RE: “Pricing Out Portland’s Artists” [Feature, May 27], addressing how the rising cost of living in Portland affects the very community that contributes much of its value.
DEAR MERCURY—State, local, and federal governments could follow Ireland’s example and exempt working artists from all taxes. It is clear that we add value, both cultural and monetary, to the properties that we inhabit and the communities where [we] live. Real estate developers and residents in New York City, San Francisco, Miami, and now Portland have all profited from the forgotten neighborhoods that have been transformed by working artists who often live very close to the poverty line…