Eat the Rich: Oregon's Solution to Its Fiscal Crisis

Voters in Oregon passed Measures 66 and 67 that raise taxes on residents and businesses. Oregonians making $125,000 per year and couples with incomes of $250,000 per year will now pay more as will many businesses. Who was pushing these initiatives? The usual promoters of class warfare. As the New York Times reports:

Supporters, led by teachers' and public employees' unions, spent about $7 million on the campaign, including television commercials and mailers that portrayed middle-class residents struggling far more than the wealthy and big business, from Wall Street executives to credit card companies….

Charles Sheketoff, executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy, one of the groups that pushed for the tax increases, said the campaign was not about class.

No. Not at all about class; just about income. Skeketoff offers this wonderfully disingenuous quotation:

"It's not that it was targeted at the rich," he said. "It was targeted at the right people, those with the ability to pay. It made the system more progressive."

Oh, please.

For more on how real class warfare is being waged on citizens by our "public servants," go here to see Steven Greenhut's excellent and disheartening article in Reason's February issue.

Comments

[P Brooks]

"It's not that it was targeted at the rich," he said. "It was targeted at the right people, those with the ability to pay. It made the system more progressive."

"Concentrate on the watch, as it moves. See how it sparkles? It's relaxing, isn't it? Let your breathing become deeper, slower. You're feeling very calm, now, aren't you?"

[John Tagliaferro]

Isn't Oregon one of the states that lets your relatives kill you off if you are costing too much for their taste in the hospital too?

[Zeb]

Stop being stupid.

[Mupson]

Not sure about that, but several years ago Oregon had the distiction of being the state with inhabitants least able to make correct bus change.

[Marc]

I'm totally not moving there now. Suck it, Oregon.

[Oregonian]

Thank God!

In the immortal words of fmr. Oregon governor Tom McCall, "Come visit again and again, but for heaven's sake, don't move here to live."

Suck it, Marc.

[?]

Wall Street executives and credit card companies in Oregon hardest hit?

[John Tagliaferro]

Those evil loggers had to do something after they stripped the old growth forest bare you know.

[John Tagliaferro]

Wall Street, North Bend, OR 97459

Learn your geometry!

[Bub]

Yep. It's them octagonal red signs in Bend that's to blame.

[Citizen Nothing]

I think the plan is to turn Oregon into a vast wilderness area. These measures are a good first step.

[Sean W. Malone]

Oregon is already a vast wilderness area... Have you never been?

[Max]

Poor people rule the world. When will the powerless wealthy stand up for their rights?

[Citizen Nothing]

Max seems to be blogging from Bangladesh.

[John WOods]

Hahaha, pass me a leg please!

Jess
http://www.online-privacy.int.tc

[heller]

Bad bot! BAD bot!

[Bub]

Is it a spotted owl leg?

[Anonymous Pirate]

Hahaha, piss on me leg please!

[Xeones]

What the fuck, anonymity guy?

[Citizen Nothing]

I'm totally using "Hahaha, pass me a leg please!"
Brilliant.

[Episiarch]

I told you all: Anonymity Bot becomes more profound as we approach the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse. Or watching 2012 drove him insane. Upon consideration, it's probably the latter.

[The Libertarian Guy]

This won't solve a thing. It will only make some people feel better about themselves, until they find the next evil to tackle.

[John Tagliaferro]

I think that's the 'idea' if there is any 'thought' in there.

[John Tagliaferro]

TLG,

Try mastering the scare quote to be more effective. I never got the hang of it so I stick with sarcastic quotes.

[The Libertarian Guy]

I'll try to remember that. Thanks!

Um, how much tax do I owe for your advice? I'd better contact an accountant, just to make sure...

[P B]

Do thet have a bet with California as to which state can become business free first?

[John]

Oregon is a beautiful place to. Portland is one of my favorite cities. Why are all nice places infected by fucking liberals? It is amazing nothing phases or stops a liberal. They are like the terminator. Just to the south of Oregon, lies the failed state of California. Yet, liberals in Oregon, many of whom no doubt moved there from California, want to make sure that state ends up in the same sorry condition.

[Sean W. Malone]

There's actually a lot of complaints from native Washingtonians & Oregonians about the influx of California people moving in over the years... It's less than I remember when I was a kid, but it's still there in parts. But yeah, Portland by itself is pretty nice, but it's extremely poorly run. The light rail is hilarious.

[Oregonian]

What's hilarious about the light rail, exactly? The fact that it moves thousands of people from home in the suburbs to work in the city every day? The fact that it enables hundreds of urbanites to get around easily without owning a car?

[Schempf]

With the subsidy we give to light rail we could buy all your friends a couple of cars

[Bus Trash]

Let's see... just off the top of my head...

o The MAX system averages 17MPH. No express, at-grade crossings everywhere.
o The true cost of a MAX ride is $20 or so
o It attracts criminals and "youths"
o The expense of building and operating MAX takes hundreds of (perfectly good) buses off the road
o One stuck door or minor power outage brings the entire MAX system to a halt
o A little bit of snow stops MAX (every year, they declare it fixed)
o If you don't live near MAX, it doesn't do you any good. But bus service keeps getting cut throughout the tri-county area to pay for MAX and WES.
o Oh yeah, WES... losing half a million a month, and runs around nearly empty. But the horn is nice and loud.

These guys are no good at rail. All they are good at is collecting payroll taxes, federal grants, and providing lifetime, zero co-pay benefits for the employees.

Soon enough, TriMet will become a health and retirement benefits company that no longer has enough money to operate a transit agency.

That's a brief intro... from a daily TriMet bus rider. I avoid MAX whenever possible. You're welcome.

[R C Dean]

I see the good people of Oregon, having observed how well sur-taxes on the wealthy work in providing stable finances in California, jumped at the chance to do the same for their state.

[P Brooks]

Goddam Californicators.

If that place is so fucking awesome, why'd you leave?

[dave b.]

Oregon is a beautiful place, but libertarian principle won't allow me to live in a place where I can't pump my own gas. I'm looking at you too, New Jersey.

[robc]

At a gas station in south Florida earlier this month, there was a lady being taught her to pump her own gas. She really seemed clueless to the whole concept. I just assumed she was from Jersey.

[Jersey Patriot]

Jersey's lookin' back, bitch.

[P Brooks]

Kevin Looper, campaign dIrector for the organization Vote Yes for Oregon was jubilant. "It's an incredible victory for some very courageous political leaders, who in the middle of a recession decided to protect schools and vital services," he said.

"Oregon voters said 'no' to more 4-day school weeks and bulging class sizes and 'yes' to corporations and the wealthy paying their fair share," added Gail Rasmussen, president of the Oregon Education Association, one of the public-sector unions that campaigned hard for Measure 66 and 67's passage. "Tonight's results are a credit to the hard work of parents, educators, and thousands of Oregonians from every walk of life who stood up to protect our schools."

WSJ

I

fucking

DESPISE

these

people.

[Simon Oliver Lockwood]

I bet realtors in Vancouver WA are still celebrating.

[brotherben]

Doesn't Oregon have a bunch of treetards that find lots-o-smug in living way way below their means? The make good incomes but save most of it while having very little impact? Can Oregon base their new tax on wealthy left over after expenses? Surely all the granolas would be willing to give up their savings so the poor can get even with the wealthy. Economically speaking of course.

[brotherben]

please bear withe me. I just got Rosetta stone, English as a second language.

[Nightmerica]

If there's to be another revolution in this nation, it won't be rich against poor. It will be private middle-class vs. public-sector, unionized middle-class...another civil war. And it will make the first one look like a Sunday picnic.

[Rick]

Actually, Portland Metro voters decided to raise taxes on Oregon. Look at the county-by-county map of the voting results.

The disdain popular supporters had for businesses large or small was terrible. The measures became a referendum on money and business. Now Oregon has legalized inequitable treatment of the so-called "rich" and businesses of all sizes.

The people who voted yes choose to make the teachers union and a COLA for a government janitor more important than family farms, food, free choice in the health market, etc.

I'll take nutritious food over the public unions any day. Oregon will be the W VA of the west coast before too long.

[ChrisO]

"Before too long"??? Have you ever been there? I grew up there, and the most notable differences between the two states are that Oregon has a greater number of annoying hipsters and slightly fewer grossly obese people.

The way things are going, Portland is eventually going to resemble a semi-abandoned Rust Belt city more than it will Seattle or San Francisco. Cleveland with hippies.

[Ron]

I have come to the conclusion that in a democracy, a majority can almost always be found to seize the assets or restrict the rights of a minority. Eventually, though, the targeted groups either leave or run out of wealth. Vermont, where I live, (and known nationally as socialism central)is an excellent example; we could raise our top income tax rate to 50% (currently 9%) and it wouldn't make a dent in in our budget--there simply aren't enough high-income people living here (as opposed to vacationing here) to pay for schools with per-pupil spending of $14,000 and the lowest teacher/pupil ratios in the country. Property taxes are very high, which does raise revenue from the substantial contingent of vacation homes owned by wealthy out of staters, but the relative dearth of economic activity means that in-state residents have trouble paying their property tax bills. Predictably, the legislature addressed this by giving property tax breaks based upon income, but there simply aren't enough wealthy out of state property owners to make up the revenue difference. Meals and rooms taxes are high, but again not enough to balance the books. So, my state has run out of politically viable options on the tax side (aka, tax the other guy), which leaves only spending cuts. The other factor is that the state has a higher ratio of property owners than most states--our largest urban area only represents 20% of the total population.

[northern california]

I think the point is that NOBODY in Oregon makes more than $125k? Have you been there?

[Old Mexican]

Charles Sheketoff, executive director of the Oregon Center for Public Policy, one of the groups that pushed for the tax increases, said the campaign was not about class.

The guy has a name that resembles those dime novel villains.

And he is right, it is not about class - they totally lack it.

[Old Mexican]

Double to nothing that Oregon's tax revenues will actually be LOWER next year (compared to this year) once 66 and 67 come into effect, and then the State Government will be left wondering what happened to the expected income the measures promised.

[Hacha Cha]

it doesn't target the rich, just the wealthy!
oh wait prop 66 redefined rich as someone making UNDER $125,000. and prop 67 redefined class so that the definition no longer included income.

[oregon]

Do any of you live in Oregon?

[Northeast Oregon dude]

I live in NE Oregon, next to Idaho. Few outside Portland Metro passed this POS. We scoff at how "they" think we can only manage our lives out here above 3000 ft altitude with their urban wisdom. There was a push 20 years ago to secede from Portland. Wish it had worked.

[Oregonian]

NE Oregon dude is wrong. It wasn't "few outside Portland Metro," it was a number of coastal, timber, rural and yes, urban, counties that passed this.

Trying to pin it all on Portland is pretty big slap in the face of Benton, Linn, Lincoln, Columbia, Clatsop, Lane and other counties.

And hey Bailey, you don't know what the hell you're talking about, so go ahead and just stay the hell away from Oregon.

[heller]

"so go ahead and just stay the hell away from Oregon."

I think everyone will be doing that from now on, retard.

[Andrew Lynch]

Disgusting.

[Scubado]

Here is the bottom line. Corporations like Albertsons Grocery chain for example, will do what every corporation will do they will raise their prices. They have no other choice. The people who will pay, will be the hard working single moms trying to feed their kids. If they want to make the school system more financially stable maybe the unions should consider a wage decrease or not such a generous pension plan. Like all of the rest of us Oregonians have had to do.

The vast majority of the cost is payroll. It's not a revenue problem its a spending problem motivated by greed. Greed of the unions leading their sheep.

[Bus Trash]

I never got a job from a poor man.

Many rich Oregonians have already left in recent years. You can choose Nevada, Idaho, and even Washington looks decent in comparison now. They can afford movers... just give them a reason.

It's even worse, if you are in a city like Portland. Just try starting a business... the system development fees alone will scare you away, long before you hire a single person.

I don't see how the government class intends to persuade the job creators to stick around and put forward their best effort. I hope that good intentions are nutritious.

They finally found a way to pass a sales tax, in all but name. I hope that I'm no longer in Oregon when reality hits.

[Lingwee]

Ugh, I just think the tax system is so complicated as it is. No need to make it even worse. You almost have to earn a degree in school every year to keep up with all the changes.

[scart]

Good seeing my art used for the right reasons, cheers