If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
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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Lol. Very little of the $ would have gone to infrastructure. Roads departments are money laundering operations.
They got greedy trying for all those taxes at once. If they had gone for one per election they might have passed.
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
I agree with you generally. But even here in CA, there are often faint pulses of common sense from our voters on referenda. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that we’ll reject the billionaires tax on the November ballot
But not always. A few years back the Legislature voted a steep hike in the gas tax. A repeal qualified for the ballot. The other side rolled out ads financed by the public employee unions with teachers, cops and firefighters saying how repeal would gut their financing. It was one occasion on which the idiot voters fell for it and failed to pass the repeal
“Oregon voters overwhelmingly rejecting hikes to gas tax...”
Typical Leftists. They JUST LOVE the idea of getting people to drive less and use Ghetto Transportation (buses, light rails, etc.)...as long as it’s NOT THEIR PEOPLE.
HOW DID THEY VOTE ON THE PROPOSAL TO END ALL ANIMAL OWNERSHIP
The problem many mostly rural states have is the number of miles of roads versus a relatively small population - miles of roads per capita.
But that does not explain all of Oregon’s highways money problem. You need to only compare Oregon and Montana.
Montana has a population (1.4 million) about 1/3 of Oregon’s (4.27 million).
Montana has about 14,000 miles of highways (12,900 state, 1,191 interstate). It has a state gas tax of $0.33 a gallon.
Oregon has a bigger population and fewer miles of highways (about 8,1000 - 730 Interstate and 7,400 state), yet its gas tax is already $0.40 a gallon ($0.07 more than Montana).
I stated out thinking the largely rural relatively small population of Oregon, and not tiny land size (larger than 51 other states) was the problem. But obviously the larger state of Montana with a smaller population than Oregon does not need a gas tax as much as what Oregon already has.
Conclusion: Oregon is mismanaged in every way.
One possible caveat: County roads maintained by the counties and the portion of state gas taxes that goes to that. But alas, I looked it up, and Montana has nearly twice the miles in county roads as Oregon while both designate some of the state gas tax to pay for them.
Good for Oregon, and surprising, they usually vote the same way as California - whose voters rejected a suspension of the (highest in the nation) gas tax:
“California voters rejected a suspension of the gas tax by defeating Proposition 6 in 2018”
And yes, wouldn’t surprise me if some Commie judge overturns the vote:
RE: California: Prop 8, yes but also Prop 187, passed with 59% of the vote and which would have denied services to illegals:
“California’s Proposition 187 was ruled unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer”
The government will ignore the road maintenance to punish the people till they vote for a tax increase.
Was not on ballot...probably November...It probably will lose, from what I have heard
“Hypocrites” indeed. They are all in for free stuff and communism until they have to actually pay for it. At least the DAs and judges can keep letting criminals out of jail without new “sustainable” revenues.
And yet they selected a moderat rino as gubernatorial candidate instead of Ed Diehl who spearheaded the petition drive that sank the gas tax.
Fools.
3 cities. Not “Oregon “ run this state. And it doesn’t matter what the voters vote for. When any tax is rejected the government just renames it as a “fee” that doesn’t require a vote. I can’t wait to get out of this fetid, yet beautiful, state.
It was not on the ballot. They are still signature gathering for the November ballot.
When I lived in California and was a LEO, I tried to tell people that it was a scam; they would not cut police and fire. Darn few listened. I always voted against the tax hikes.
You can pump your own gas in Oregon now. Stations are still required to have an attendant for those needing help.
The Unbridgeable Abyss: Why Reason and Truth Shatter Against the Leftist Mind
https://lhgrey78.substack.com/p/the-unbridgeable-abyss-why-reason?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=7567125&post_id=198053293&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ch1ue&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4379708/posts
Drazan (R) has a chance at beating her in November.
Portland is a city full of mentally sick people.
Portlanders voted for this.
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