This Week in the Mercury
Friday, September 25, 2009
Politics Anti-Tax Nuts File Two Referenda.
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, Sep 25, 2009 at 4:31 PM
The annual richie rich referendum is in! Every election cycle, Oregon expends a lot of energy fighting whacko ballot measures and referendums and this year is no exception.
- Who needs good schools when you've got a solid gold doghouse, baby!
The "Stop Job Killing Taxes Campaign" turned in 129,500 signatures to the Secretary of State's Elections Office today, likely qualifying their referendums to repeal recent new taxes to a state-wide vote. That comes as no big surprise—the group has more than $1 million in its war chest, after all.
"What I think is of note is the disparity between the number of signatures they got and the number of people who will actually be affected by the measure," says Defend Oregon's Scott Moore, who's spearheading the campaign against the anti-tax referendums. Moore's group calculates that only 28,000 taxpayers will be affected by the law the legislature passed last spring raising taxes on the wealthiest 1.7 percent of Oregonians. The second tax measure up for referendum raises the minimum annual tax corporations pay from $10 (an amount set in in 1931) to $150— would apply to only 12 percent of businesses would pay more than the minimum. "It's an important increase but it's a modest one," says Moore, who points out that Washington's corporate minimum tax is five times higher than Oregon's.
Unless the majority of Oregonians vote to repeal the new taxes (voting "no" this January), the new taxes will raise $733 million (plus earn federal matching dollars of about $200 million) for the strapped Oregon budget, taking some strain off the budgets for things like education and human services.
A poll over the summer backs up Moore's belief that the referendums will fail. An Oregon Center for Public Policy poll showed that Oregonians favor the new taxes by a two to one margin.
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Nuts?
Or people who actually understand the laws of basic economics?
We are where we are not because the government takes enough from "rich people."
Tell me why any private employer (i.e. real jobs) would be drawn to Oregon because of these hikes.
The Government will not save and does not care about you. It will continue to drive unemployment up.
Keep it up, Oregon
WE'RE NUMBER 2!
WE'RE NUMBER 2!
Secondly, the OCPP can hardly be considered a bellwether of actual public opinion.
D, you are nuts. Oregon has one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the nation.
Percentage of Oregon businesses that pay the min. $10/annual tax?
66%! (Including ATT, Time-Warner, and Pfizer.)
Percentage of business owners completely unaffected by the new tax?
93%!
Amount we would have to raise corporate taxes to be in the ballpark with Idaho or Nevada?
$3 BILLION" (and they are not exactly progressive hotbeds)
Amount corporate taxes would actually be raised? $260 million.
Most small businesses in Oregon are partnerships, LLPs, LLCs, and S corporations. These companies will pay a flat tax of $150. C corporations that do not report a profit will only pay about one-tenth of one percent of their Oregon sales. Small business with sales of $500,000 or less will pay just $150 a year.
You are right about one thing. We are #2. Quite possibly because our schools, roads, and health-care levels are crumbling to deep-south levels through lack of funding. Thank you for helping us get there.
We don't listen to Amish auto mechanics, or Christian Science surgeons, or fundamentalist archeologists...why in the 9 hells should we listen to D on taxes???
Yes! Yes!
Second declension neuter accusative plural!
@D
"Or people who actually understand the laws of basic economics?"
You clearly don't.
Trickle down economics don't work. Never have and they never will. Know why? Typically rich people are really greedy and like to get richer. They don't do things like reward hard work with higher pay. They pocket the profits, give themselves bonuses, and tell their employees that they're lucky to have a job and if they don't work harder they won't have a job.
Rabblevox - my point is increasing it will not encourage job growth.
Blacked Out - it's always the other guy that's 'greedy' isn't it?
'Typically rich people are really greedy and like to get richer.'
Wow, ninth grade Marxist stereotypes.
Do you consider your own instinct for self preservation 'greed?'
And how many businesses have a gun to your head while they pull from your wallet?
@D
Thanks for confirming your idiocy by actually using the phrase, "ninth grade Marxist stereotypes."
I'm going to go back in the corner and laugh at your anti-tax pro corporation douchebag stance.
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