UPDATE: Taxes, the road not taken ...
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Remember the Oregon Legislature's bold decision last month to boost taxes to help fill a multibillion-dollar budget gap? Well, as predicted, the $733 million in personal and corporate tax hikes didn't go over well with critics, who assailed the very idea of raising taxes during a deep recession.
On Tuesday, a group called Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes filed referenda against the two tax bills. They're talking about spending $500k on the signature-gathering campaign. They need roughly 55,000 valid voter signatures by Sept. 25 – not tough if they can indeed hire an army of paid signature-solicitors.
Oregon SecState Kate Brown says if they qualify for the ballot, the election would be on Jan. 26, with all-mail ballots going out Jan. 8. The Oregonian newspaper says both sides in the debate are girding for ballot-box warfare.
Across the border, of course, fellow Democrats in Olympia took a very different approach, closing a $9 billion budget gap without resorting to general taxes. Voters also will decide on tightening the belt even further, balloting this November on Tim Eyman's Initiative 1033, which would cap the revenue growth for state, city and county general funds, with excess dollars earmarked for property tax relief.
A new two-year Washington state budget went into effect on July 1, including a variety of budget cuts, hiring freezes and furloughs, fund shifts and heavy use of federal dollars. Lawmakers worry that the budget may droop into the red again, and talk about further cuts in January. Governor Gregoire has directed agencies to trim 2 percent of their personnel costs.
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Secretary of State
Steve Hobbs
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