Campaign against ‘job killing taxes’ heats up
From our weekly issue dated November 11, 2009
Despite the fact that Oregonians won’t decide on a pair of tax increases until Jan. 26, 2010, both sides of the debate already are gearing up for a heated and protracted political battle.
Earlier this year, the Legislature voted to pass a series of tax hikes to plug gaping budget holes.
But almost immediately after those were signed into law, a statewide effort was started to refer the increases to voters. A coalition of business and other groups formed Oregonians Against Job Killing Taxes, and collected nearly twice the amount of required valid signatures needed to force a vote on the two tax measures.
If passed, Measure 66 would raise the tax on incomes at or above $250,000 for households and $125,000 for individuals. It also would eliminate income taxes on the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received in 2009 and raise an estimated $472 million in revenue for the state.
Measure 67 raises the corporate minimum tax from $10 to $150. It increases the tax rate that some corporations pay on profits by 1.3 percentage points and increases certain business filing fees. An estimated $255 million would be raised.
Pat McCormick, spokesman for Oregonians Against Job Killing Taxes, stated that a temporary tax would have been more acceptable to the business community as a way to help the state government raise revenues during the recession. He added that the state has lost more than 130,000 private sector jobs since the recession began.
“Nine percent of the jobs that existed in November 2007 no longer exist in this state in the private sector,” McCormick said. “If we re-establish the growth of jobs in the private sector, we wouldn’t have this kind of economic problem from a budget standpoint at the state level.”
McCormick also rejects the notion that businesses throughout Oregon aren’t paying their fair share of taxes. Oregon is in the “middle of the pack” compared to all the states, but only due to the lack of a sales tax, he said.
“When you take that factor out and look at the rest of the business taxes, Oregon taxes businesses pretty well,” McCormick said.
But members of the union-backed coalition, Defend Oregon, are fighting to pass the tax increases. Spokesman Scott Moore announced that nearly 100 groups already have joined the coalition, with anticipation of many more adding their support.
“Right now, those groups are all communicating with their members and communicating with members of the public that they talk to about what’s at stake in this election,” Moore said.
Advertisement:
Court Case Arises
The differences between the pro and anti-tax factions won’t be played out only on the campaign trail.
Oregonians Against Job Killing Taxes has filed four lawsuits in the Oregon Supreme Court challenging the specific language of the ballot titles and explanations for Measure 66 and Measure 67.
“All of those documents are flawed, in our mind, and the law provides for us to have an appeal right with the Supreme Court, which we’ve done,” said McCormick.
A separate suit was filed Thursday, Oct. 22 in Marion County Circuit Court by attorney John DiLorenzo. McCormick and Sharon Livingston are listed as plaintiffs, and Secretary of State Kate Brown as defendant.
The suit challenges the constitutionality of the process the Legislature used to create the ballot titles. Typically, that is done through the Attorney General’s office, which makes it an executive branch function. But McCormick said that authority was “usurped” by delegating the function to a six-member legislative committee.
Briefs have been filed by the plaintiffs, and the state is set to file a response. Oral arguments are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 12 before Judge Paul Lipscomb, who came out of retirement to help resolve the matter.
Moore said that Defend Oregon filed a friend-of-the-court brief in that case on Brown’s behalf. He added that tax opponents are “not looking for neutral, unbiased ballot titles.”
“What they’re arguing for are titles that are biased in favor of them,” Moore said. “The fact that they started complaining about ballot title language before they were even written is proof that for them, it’s more about politics and publicity than about ballot titles.”
Active Campaign Set To Kick Off
McCormick said that his group will purchase advertising, and engage in grass-roots activities and “all kinds of contact with voters.”
“There will be much visibility, but that probably won’t be until December or January because of the timing of the election,” McCormick said. “We’ll have the kind of campaign you would expect.”
Moore said that Defend Oregon also will begin advertising closer to the election.
“I think both sides will spend as much as it takes to communicate effectively with voters,” Moore said. “It’s no secret that it’s a challenge to get people paying attention to a January special election when they’re used to voting in November.”
Although McCormick wouldn’t disclose how much the anti-tax coalition plans to spend on its efforts, he said that he expects Defend Oregon to allocate at least $7 million.
“We expect to be substantially outspent, but still be able to win,” he said.
But Moore said that the emphasis of the campaign will be on preserving the state’s education, health-care and public safety programs.
“We’re going to continue to talk about the need to protect the basic services that people depend on,” Moore concluded.
Advertisement:
