Pass Measures 66 & 67 in Oregon

The only reason I will not vote for these is that I already have.

A new poll indicates that Oregon voters strongly favor two ballot measures that would raise taxes on corporations, as well as on individuals making over $125,000 and households with an income over $250,000.

Measure 66, which would raise taxes on higher-earning taxpayers, is favored by 52% to 39%. Measure 67, which would increase both the corporate minimum tax and certain corporate tax rates, is favored by 50% to 40%.

The increased revenue would go to maintain public services, schools, health care, and public safety. Over $1 billion is at stake — $733 million in direct revenue and the rest in matching funds from federal programs. The bulk of the increases would be temporary.

Both measures were passed last year by the Oregon state legislature, but a group called Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes quickly raised over a million dollars and collected enough signatures to force the proposals to be decided by a special election this month.

Ironically, this has now had the effect of moving the voting, which concludes next Tuesday, to a period when anti-corporate feeling is on the increase.

A diarist at Daily Kos reported in July that Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes was "led by veteran conservative lobbyist Mark Nelson (who has represented a number of conservative clients, most notably the tobacco industry). This PAC has raised $189,000 so far, with $100,000 coming from four major conservative PACs (the Restaurant Association, the Housing Lobby, Automobile Dealers and Grocery Stores) and the rest coming from a collection of businesses including oil companies among others."

A story in Thursday’s Oregonian concluded that the outcome was likely to depend on turnout, since "both campaigns are using cutting-edge database and phone technology that factor in everything from consumer habits to reading preferences to select voters who could be the deciding factor in an election that both sides acknowledge has grown very tight." That story, however, appears to have been written before the release of the latest poll…

Inserted from <Raw Story>

Here in Oregon, the rich have it pretty easy.  The top tax bracket is a marginal rate of 9% and covers everyone making over $16,000 per year.  Many giant corporations pay just the minimum corporate tax, a flat tax of $10.  I have not seen a ad in favor yet, but the I have seen a highly deceptive ad in opposition dozens of times.  It depicts a small bakery owner firing beloved employees because he cannot afford them after the tax.  The bakery actually exists.  It’s a California bakery, and a single proprietorship, not a corporation, so it would not even be effected by the tax.  If it actually were an Oregon corporation, their total income tax would be $42 per month, hardly enough to cause the layoff of two employees.  The Oregonian, to their shame, opposes the measures.

Assuming that we pass this, Oregon will be setting an example for the rest of the nation, especially the spineless representatives in DC.

In other Oregon political news, the Senator I helped elect, Jeff Merkley, blasted Murkowski’s reactionary proposal to muzzle the EPA.  To read what he wrote, Click Here.