Posted on 05/20/2026 5:18:10 AM PDT by Libloather
Oregonians are on track to overwhelmingly reject hikes to the state’s gas tax, payroll tax and vehicle registration and title fees that would have gone toward funding the maintenance and operations of public roads and bridges.
Initial election results from the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office shortly after 8 p.m. showed the measure failing by a 4:1 margin.
Had it succeeded, the measure would have doubled most vehicle registration fees, raised the gas tax from 40 cents to 46 cents, raised title fees from $77 to $216 and doubled the payroll tax used for public transit from 0.1% of a paycheck to 0.2% until 2028.
For cities and counties, the rejection means they won’t be receiving more funding deeply needed to fix many sidewalks and potholes, particularly in rural areas. Half of the money raised by the gas tax, car registration fees and title fees goes to cities and counties.
“Without sustainable revenue, counties will face increasingly difficult decisions that directly impact road user safety and increase long-term costs to the public, such as making long-overdue safety improvements on Oregon’s most dangerous rural roads, ensuring county road departments can maintain staffing levels and avoid operations and maintenance cuts and preserving investments counties have made in our shared transportation system,” Association of Oregon Counties spokesperson Erin Good said in an email.
Measure 120’s unpopularity doesn’t come as a surprise. Nearly 250,000 Oregonians frustrated by potential gas tax hikes signed the petition that placed the measure on the ballot. Plus, gas tax hikes in Oregon are historically unpopular. Oregon voters have rejected gas tax hike proposals on the ballot more than five times since 1928.
The vote also comes as gas prices continue to rocket upward because of the Iran war. As of Tuesday, motor club AAA tracked average prices...
(Excerpt) Read more at oregoncapitalchronicle.com ...
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Even the state’s food bank is a money laundering leftist operation.
The fact that Portlanders voted for it is indicative of the fact that Portland is beyond salvation.
No Republican should ever venture into Portland politics because there can be nothing but failure.
Portland is too far gone to be salvaged.
“ that would have gone toward funding the maintenance and operations of public roads and bridges “
This is the part that people rejected. They know damn well that any new taxes will go to the homeless industry in Portland and to grants to NGO’s like Antifa.
“” ensuring county road departments can maintain staffing levels” Association of Oregon Counties spokesperson Erin Good said “
Maintaining staffing levels is the key point in the effort to raise taxes and fees. We need employees to supervise if we are going to be supervisors.
The fact that Portland was over ruled by the rest of the state says we CAN beat them if the issue is important enough...and they get educated as the Initiative did to get it on the ballot.
Most jurisdictions receive adequate revenue to fun basic services. Unfortunately, in the more liberal stares & cities, they squander much of the money on liberal pet projects and vote-buying, while bleating “there’s not enough money.”
As I suggested, the CA electorate is mostly, though not absolutely, brainwashed. They fall pretty reliably for the nurses’,cops’ and firefighter unions’ “dog whistle” of loss of those services if the voters don’t do what the unions want
That’s what they did in Washington state.
Not only is it higher but with the much larger population, they are selling far more gas and getting much more money.
I know. I live in this liberal hell hole
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