Oregon may hike tax to close budget. Republicans cave.

The Oregonian ^ | 9/3/2002 | HARRY ESTEVE

[Jack Black]

So much for Witt the Republican! I like the way the rates raises are graduated, the "rich" get a bigger rate than everyone else.

[Dialup Llama]

> Even the chairman of the committee working on the proposal, Rep. Ben Westlund, R-Bend, called it "half a plan."

Maybe Oregonians can unelect all those who voted for the half assed plan.

[larry h]

Issuing cigarette tax bonds? These idiots are making a long-term financial commitment that is directly tied to their own efforts to reduce the activity that pays for....
the bonds!!!!!!!!

[Jack Black]

As long as there are some no-income tax states (two bordering Oregon) I think they may be overplaying their hand. No sales tax is a nice thing when your spending 100% of your income an 8% income tax or sales tax is the same. However when you make enough to save money it's a big difference.

It's precisely people in their earning prime who have the ability to move, be consultants and work from home offices in states like WA and NV. Which is what many will do. Las Vegas is full of $200,000 condos. They seem expensive until you realize that they pay for them self in tax savings.

Oregon may follow California into permanant tax problems if serious "high earner" exodus from the state occurs.

Oh, yeah, there is a ballot initative to raise taxes by ANOTHER 20% already qualified for this fall's election. (11% to employers and 9% to employees). That could put the top tax rate at 19%!

It will be fun to watch the real estate market implode.

[Jolly Rodgers]

Kruse and Doyle are the only Republicans who even have a proposal that talks about looking at ways to cut spending, and the rest of the Republican scum won't even give it a hearing. For crying out loud, the Republican congress passed a 17% budget increase this year and now they are crying about the need for more revenue to fund it. But, they won't even consider the possibility of looking at the new programs that haven't even started yet for cuts. Instead they are threatening us with closing prisons and dumping criminals back on the street; cutting three weeks off the end of the school year (even though schools are still getting a 9% increase); cutting the number of patrol officers; closing mental health group homes and dumping the residents on the street. No, they can't cut funding for public broadcasting, or the Oregon Socialized Health Plan, or CIM/CAM, or the OLCC or the Arts Council, or the Race Based Commissions, or PERS, or Dept. of no-Economic Development. Goodness no! Those are essentials. But keeping criminals in prison is expendable.

The worst part is that so many Oregonians are so bone stupid that they'll fall for it, too.

[WaterDragon]

The Oregon Democrats, and too many so-called Republicans, went on a furiously-paced spending spree during the "good years", and now, instead of cutting back on all the extra government bureaucracies (read, democrat voters grateful for taxpayer-paid income), the governor and others call for HIGHER taxes on citizens already suffering from the recession.

Typical Democratic and RINO non_sense.

As for voting fraud in Oregon, how do you think the Democrats got so powerful? And maintain themselves in power? They won't give this up willingly.

Republican leadership in this state is too busy sucking up to the Democrats, hoping for crumbs, to be our knights in shining armour. We are going to have to do the work, of protecting our votes from fraud, ourselves. NOW is the time to begin to think about that and to make our plans.

[MarkM]

Another income tax increase is poison for the economy of Oregon. If you care about Oregon and its people just don't sign on to any tax increases. Call for tax cuts; that will help Oregon recover.

[dixiechick2000]

The amount of the shortfall is only 3.3%. For the life of me, I can't figure out why they can't cut 3.3% from a huge budget increase!

Bill Witt is an idiot and wants nothing more than to keep his seat in the House. In fact, I believe that's all that our so-called representatives care about.

And, don't even get me started on Vera and the business climate in Portland...

" No, they can't cut funding for public broadcasting, or the Oregon Socialized Health Plan, or CIM/CAM, or the OLCC or the Arts Council, or the Race Based Commissions, or PERS, or Dept. of no-Economic Development. Goodness no! Those are essentials. But keeping criminals in prison is expendable."

"The Oregon Democrats, and too many so-called Republicans, went on a furiously-paced spending spree during the "good years", and now, instead of cutting back on all the extra government bureaucracies (read, democrat voters grateful for taxpayer-paid income), the governor and others call for HIGHER taxes on citizens already suffering from the recession."

Excellent points!

[gundog]

Maybe Oregonians can unelect all those who voted for the half assed plan.

Would these be the same Oregonians that were chanting "Raise our taxes!" on the Capitol steps?

[blackie]

Cut spending, lower taxes, we're in a recession !!

Death To all Tyrant's !!

The Second Amendment...
America's Original Homeland Security !!

[Lizavetta]

Witt said the agreement includes $290 million from a temporary, three-year increase in income tax rates;

Bool-sheet!

[Lizavetta]

If there are any Oregonians out there who can enlighten me on whether Oregon is a good place to go (Klamath area in particular) please email me.

[El Sordo]

Oregon's a great place to live if you want to mooch off the gummint.

If you want to earn a living it ain't always so great.

[gundog]

Ya might wanna read this one. That aside, there's nothin' wrong with Oregon that one more transplanted Califorian can't fix. Change yer license plate immediately or you'll see gundog's finger wavin' at ya. (You'll be amazed at the number of people up here pretending to be me.)

[gundog]

Link didn't work...oh, well; it just some nonsense about a nun being raped and strangled with her own rosary by an illegal immigrant in Klamath Falls. The place ain't all bad though...the other nun is expected to live.

[lobo59]

But we got poverty with a view.

The ace in the hole is the bonus of all the fires that are going to need to be salvage logged. Of course the politicians will not back good jobs and new tax payers to solve the economic woes of the state. That would return the population to independence and not state handouts.

Don't expect to cut out the new Arts and culture funding to balance the budget. Ben Westland expects to get the directors job for that unneeded crap at a salary that beats working for a living, especially in Oregon.

www.bend.com

This site has sidebars of central Oregon wages and other economic data, it is a fine cronicle of the impoverishment of rural Oregon.

[Diddle E. Squat]

No income tax in Vancouver, WA, correct?

[Jolly Rodgers]

The amount of the shortfall is only 3.3%. For the life of me, I can't figure out why they can't cut 3.3% from a huge budget increase!

With the new revenue projections (showing that the recession is cutting even deeper into us producing citizens), it now appears that they would have to cut about 5%, which shouldn't be too hard considering they just passed a 17% increase. That would still leave them with a 12% increase, for crying out loud! Damn it pisses me off that so many people in Oregon aren't aware of these facts. Our media is so left-wing biased that it slays me.

Bill Witt is an idiot and wants nothing more than to keep his seat in the House. In fact, I believe that's all that our so-called representatives care about.

Bill Witt called in to the Gregg Clapper show this afternoon. Did you hear it? Oh, man that guy is a stinking rotten socialist RINO tax and spender. He just kept repeating that he didn't have the power to introduce a bill to cut spending -- even though he just introduced a bill to increase taxes. Doh! Clapper didn't let him skate, either. He made sure the audience saw through the charade. The ultimate was when Witt claimed he interviewed 3,000 of his constituents and they asked him to raise their taxes! What a lying sack of dung.

And, don't even get me started on Vera and the business climate in Portland...

As soon as my wife gets her BS in nursing (1 yr) and my kids are out of high school (3 yrs), I'm going to start job hunting in a state with lower taxes. Heck, I might even look for a job out of the country and find a way to pay as little tax as possible to fed, state or local. It's not much, but it's up to each person to do their part and let it all accumulate.

[Jolly Rodgers]

If you care about Oregon and its people just don't sign on to any tax increases.

Like we'll really be given a choice. The public employees and welfare class outnumber us producers by quite a bit. There is some speculation that the democrats actually want an income tax referendum on the ballot because it would inspire their base to get out and vote for more taxes, which would also mean more votes for their candidates.

[Jolly Rodgers]

If there are any Oregonians out there who can enlighten me on whether Oregon is a good place to go (Klamath area in particular) please email me.

It's good in some respects and bad in others. We have a very high income tax and the environmental politics can be devastating to property owners. On the other hand, it has a wide variety of climate and land types to choose from, depending on your preferences.