Oregon's Tax Measures Get National Attention

Tax hikes passed by the 2009 Oregon Legislature sparked a swift challenge by an employer coalition who managed to place the issue on January 26 ballot. With the election weeks away, the results will be of more than academic interest. The election will be seen as a broader test of public opinion regarding tax increases while unemployment remains high and the recovery fragile.

Today the Wall Street Journal gave the election some editorial thought.

...the liberal Portland Oregonian has editorialized against the new taxes, which it says would target "the very businesses and employers that Oregon is depending on to lead an economic recovery, start hiring again and pay the wages that support state services."

... In recent weeks, national powerhouses AFSCME and the SEIU have poured close to $1 million into the state campaign to secure passage. Oregon's public employees have one of the sweetest deals in America. Their average pay is about one-third higher than that of private Oregon workers, and Oregon public employees don't have to pay anything toward their health-care benefits.

In the last budget, the Democratic controlled state legislature doled out a $259 million pay raise to the government work force, even as the state was facing a near $1 billion deficit. 

The issue of public employee pay hikes during a budget crunch, as you know, has surfaced here as well.

The Oregonian yesterday had a good commentary by a small business owner, who noted the consequences of boosting the income tax.

As far as the "tax the rich" proposal of Measure 66 is concerned, it's not hard to figure out the unintended consequences of its passage. Just across the Columbia River is a state that has no income tax. Look at what former Oregon House Speaker Karen Minnis and her husband, John Minnis, the former director of Oregon's Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, did when they contemplated retiring on their generous PERS pensions. They bought a home in Camas, Wash., where they will pay no Oregon income tax on the retirement income Oregonians provide them.

I wonder if they still shop in Portland.