FORMER US senatorial candidate Steve Novick had one of the
best campaign days of his life on Saturday, October 3. Going door to
door in the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood south of Powell, Novick
encouraged voters to support new taxes that will be up for a statewide
vote in January. A man with several missing teeth living in a shabby
apartment complex enthusiastically signed a pledge to vote yes. “If you
have half a brain, you’d have to vote yes,” said the man.
“I swear I didn’t pay him to say that,” said Novick, checking the
name off his list as he headed down the street. At the next door, a
lawyer in a Patagonia fleece also immediately agreed to vote yes on the
tax measures, which will modestly raise taxes on corporations and the
1.7 wealthiest percent of Oregonians. “I’m a corporation and I would
love to pay more taxes,” she said.
While Oregon has an anti-tax reputation, apparently some residents
are coming around to the idea. Two-thirds of corporations in Oregon pay
only $10 in state taxes, an amount set in 1931, according to Novick’s
campaign group, Defend Oregon. Faced with a $4 billion budget hole last
spring, the legislature barely passed two tax hikes on corporations and
wealthy individuals after heated debate. Altogether, the new taxes will
bring in $733 million for the state.
But a subtly named group called “Oregonians Against Job-Killing
Taxes” shelled out $550,000 to paid signature gatherers over the
summer, collecting enough names to put the new taxes up for a statewide
referendum in a special January election.
Though a poll in August revealed that Oregonians support higher
taxes on corporations and the rich by a two-to-one margin, the anti-tax
campaign has deep pockets. Their war chest holds over $1.2 million,
which the group is spending on high-powered lobbyists and TV
advertisements.
Under the gray Saturday morning sky, campaign coordinator Liz McCann
gave a pro-tax pep talk to the 30 volunteers eating bagels and
preparing to canvass the Southeast Portland neighborhood. “The average
family in Oregon pays $3,100 in income tax. That’s 300 times higher
than the corporate tax,” said McCann, to a chorus of hisses.
The first bill that’s up for referendum in January will raise income
taxes on couples that make over $250,000; the second raises the
corporate minimum tax from the rate set in 1931. Eighty-eight percent
of Oregon businesses will pay a $150 annual fee, while the rest will
pay up to $100,0000 depending on their income, plus a higher income
tax.
Without the tax increases, Oregonians are in trouble, says Novick.
“If everything gets hit proportionally, it would be the equivalent of
2,000 old people losing care and 20,000 children losing health-care
coverage,” he predicts.
The Oregon Legislative Revenue Office agrees, issuing a report last
week that says the new taxes will lead to a rise in income for most
households in Oregon. If Oregonians repeal the measure, the state will
have to slash education, human services, and public safety budgets,
says the report.
Tax foes, of course, disagree.
“This hurts the kinds of businesses that Oregon should be trying to
support,” says Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes spokesman Pat
McCormick, pointing out that gas stations, timber companies, and other
high-volume companies will be hit hardest by the new corporate income
taxes. He thinks the legislature should tap existing reserves before
placing higher taxes on businesses. “They have lots of options in front
of them. At a time when Oregon is in the middle of a recession, it does
not make any sense to be raising taxes,” says McCormick.
Timber, paper, and oil companies have donated over $400,000 to the
anti-tax campaign. The biggest single donor is Columbia Sportswear
President and Reed College trustee Timothy Boyle, who gave $10,000 (and
who falls into the “weathiest 1.7 percent of Oregonians” catagory). The
campaign altogether has spent more than twice as much as Defend Oregon,
which is hoping to win at the ballot box in January with the help of
mostly volunteer canvassers.
McCann reminded the crowd of 30 coffee-sipping doorknockers on
Saturday morning to introduce themselves as volunteers. “Face-to-face,
door-to-door contact—you can’t pay for the impact of that kind of
communication,” she said.
Novick, at least, easily struck gold.
Wow, Tim Boyle is a prick. Another good reason to boycott Columbia products. Hey Reedies, maybe you guys should have some sort of outing/protest of Tim Boyle being FOR cutting education, human services, and public safety budgets…Public shaming of these greedy fucks is about the only way we have to keep them accountable.
These rich pricks are SO GOOD at fooling the DUMBASS americans around us, that actually VOTE AGAINST their own interests because they actually believe the anti tax crowd.
It’s so sad to watch the public voting to destroy itself.
Propaganda, it works!
I’ll give y’all an example of just how STUPID some people are.
I work at TRIMET and I know LOTS OF PEOPLE who work there that are ANTI GOVERNMENT!
That’s fight folks, people who work for the government are SO FREAKING STUPID that they are anti government in their politics, and of course ANTI UNION.
In other words, the believe in a philosophy that WOULD PUT THEM OUT OF WORK.
Why should we be encouraging gas stations and timber companies?
I know that there are alot of Oregonians that are employed in the forest product industry in this state. But those folks aren’t getting any tax break and there are just as many Oregonians who have lost their jobs in this industry, jobs that won’t be coming back, no matter how much of our tax money we allow GP, Weyerhauser, IP, ITT, Menashe Corporation etc. to funnel back to their shareholders.
These people already pay less than their fair share in taxes on their income from those shares.
Corporations paying $10 a year? Screw that! I don’t want to see businesses taxed to the point where they go under or leave the state, but they should at least pay a fair portion of the tax revenue… after all, they benefit from the services just like everyone else.
Corporations need to invest in the states infrastructure so we can educate our kids, pave roads, etc so we don’t restrict the future flow of people and goods into companies years later.
Folks, you can tax the rich all you want, but they’ll just pass the cost of compliance on to the next guy and the next guy will pass it on to the next guy until finally we consumers end up paying it. That’s how taxation works in this country. Why pay your own taxes when you can add it on to the cost of your products and services?
Take my advice. Switch to a consumption tax. It’s the only way to force the rich to pay their own taxes out of their own pocket. Nothing else will work. The rich will never pay up until we start playing a whole new ballgame.