- KULONGOSKI: PILLARS OF JUSTICE
Governor Ted Kulongoski today announced a series of proposed steps to “reset” Oregon’s government to deal with the lasting effects of what he calls the “Great Recession.”
“The temptation will be to simply rerun the tired political debate of whether we have a revenue problem or a spending problem,” he told a packed ballroom during a City Club event this afternoon.
Instead, Kulongoski wants to use a report generated by a “Reset Cabinet” that he created in September 2009. The cabinet, made up of state officials from various departments like education, corrections and human services—as well as a couple lawyers—made a number of recommendations, some of which are likely to be controversial.
“The government we have is too expensive to maintain,” said Kulongoski.
After the jump, a few ways that the governor and his Cabinet think we can make Oregon’s economy stable.
Consolidate business and administrative functions for public schools across multiple school districts.
Force teachers’ unions to engage in statewide collective bargaining rather than the hodgepodge of regional negotiations that currently eats up time and money (Portland’s current contract took 19 months to negotiate, and only runs through next year).
Collaborate with individual public universities to develop an “affordability framework” for need-based financial aid. Use the “shared responsibility model,” which takes money from public and private colleges to pay for financial aid across the state.
Send state prison inmates to serve their final year in county facilities, or using electronic detention or halfway house placement.
“Selectively adjust” Measure 11 sentences. This measure calls for mandatory minimum sentencing for certain crimes, for anyone over age 15. Kulongoski says reducing sentences “is certain to attract the attention of headline writers… [but] incarceration is the most expensive tool in the public safety tool box.” He says this would definitely not involve reducing sentences for violent offenders.
Create a strong reserve fund to maintain fiscal stability. “We could cut the cost of government by 20 percent and still face a budget hole when the next recession hits,” said Kulongoski, who will leave the governor’s office in six months.
How about “reform the tax system to make it more stable across economic cycles”? No? Didn’t think so…
Um…what about having the wealthiest Oregonians pay a percentage of taxes that’s equally proportional to their total wealth? Like, the same as you and I pay.
No? You think it’s better to fire the dwindling middle class – and thus increase failures in mortgage, crime & prisons, and the need for social services? Really? Wow. That’s f*cking bonkers.
I’d totally forgotten we had a governonr. Where the fuck has Kulongoski been for the last two years?
The guv’s proposal sounds rational. No excuse for not pulling all state employees and public school teachers into a single health care system.
“Reform the tax system” is the code phrase for sales tax. Even if it was passed, it would be recalled by initiative.
We still have a ways to go with corporate taxation, we remain one of the most tax friendly states for business. The kicker’s got to go. Oh yes, and everyone’s favorite, the beer tax! Fourth lowest in the country today.
‘what about having the wealthiest Oregonians pay a percentage of taxes that’s equally proportional to their total wealth? Like, the same as you and I pay.’
Because then they raise prices on all their goods and services and the middle and lower classes are the ones who suffer anyway.
The governor’s agenda has been fighting against doing the things he is now proposing for the past 6 years. Better late than never.
Limit all school board districts to 3 school board members only.
R: sadly, you’re right, we’ll never get a sales tax passed, no matter how sensible it may be. A rational debate on tax simply can’t happen in the current political climate. But there’s other things that could be done as well to stabilize tax revenues over years, and getting rid of the kicker is top of the list.
The governor’s other suggestions seem sensible enough, but they’re nowhere near enough to stabilize the economy. It’s not about reducing spending (which all except the last aim at); it’s about getting the exact same amount of total revenue but without the fluctuations.
Wow. Now if Ted only had a position in government from which to implement these initiatives. You know like the presidency of a state or something. I wish I had paid more attention in Pol Sci.
Sales tax keeps coming up, and yet every time you look at a state that has sales tax you see how badly it works. The net results is always:
A) punishing the lower class, as a greater percentage of their income goes to taxable purchases while a greater percentage of right people’s income goes to investments, services, vacations and improvements.
B) Punishing the economy by essentially fining everyone who participates it.
C) Creates an enforcement mechanism that costs almost as much money as it recovers.
D) Annoying the hell out of everyone who has to figure out the tax on every purchase they make, every time.