Oregon Sends A Game-Changing Progressive Message on Tax Measures
[Video features pre-election coverage of the Oregon vote on Fox and MSNBC. We're assuming that Stephen Moore is officially surprised now. -- ed.]
Just one week after the media chattering classes announced that Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts represented a political sea change, voters in Oregon sent an unmistakable message of their own. And to be sure, they signaled an important win for Democrats and their progressive allies.
Rather than gut school funding and other essential government services during a recession like most states, Oregonians voted to raise taxes on the wealthiest residents and boost the minimum corporate tax from its shocking level of $10 a year.
As the New York Times noted this morning, Tuesday's special election became necessary when anti-tax advocates turned to Measures 66 and 67 to undo three quarters of a billion in funding for education and other programs:
The Legislature, controlled by Democrats, has already put the $727 million into the current budget. So if the ballot items, known as Measures 66 and 67, had been rejected, lawmakers would have been forced to hold a special session to find other ways to reduce spending or raise revenue.
And in what is a recurring theme for the nation as a whole, the New York Times in its election preview Sunday suggested who would vote for - and who would benefit from - the passage of the ballot measures in a state which hadn't voted for an income tax increase since 1930:
Yet if the measures pass, it will probably not be because of support here in largely conservative southwest Oregon. Too many times the state has proposed too many taxes, many residents here say, and this is no exception, never mind the school troubles.
Instead, experts say, if the measures pass it will be because Oregon lawmakers found a way to narrowly focus a tax increase that more liberal parts of the state could tolerate, even at a time when a tax increase could not be harder to digest.
Which is exactly what unfolded last night. In an election with 59% turnout statewide, voters approved both Measure 66 (which raises taxes on households with taxable income above $250,000) and Measure 67 (which sets sets higher minimum taxes on corporations and increases the tax rate on upper-level profits) by a comfortable 6 point, 90,000 vote margin. With a 70% "yes" vote, Portland's Multnomah County alone provided most of the difference.
As the Oregonian's Jeff Mapes concluded, the ballot measures' passage vindicated Governor Kulongoski, the Democratic legislature and its union supporters, which helped the "Yes" campaign outspend by $6.8 million to $4.6 million the "No" forces led by Nike's Phil Knight and Columbia Sportswear's Tim Boyle:
The strong "Yes" vote is the vindication of a risky strategy by majority Democrats and their union allies. During the Legislature, Kevin Looper, who ran the union-backed Yes campaign, told Democratic lawmakers that polling showed that a tax measure focused on the well-to-do and on corporations would win favor with voters.
All of which is a message that President Obama and Democrats in Congress need to hear. Of course, whether the mainstream media was listening is another matter altogether.
For more background on Oregon managed to preserve its budget while raising its per capita burden from 36th to 34th and business taxes from 3rd lowest in the nation to 5th lowest, visit BlueOregon here and here. Robert Cruickshank at Calitics has some thoughts on what it means to other states, too.
A strategic template to get things done right.
Change even a poor teabagger could get along with...
I personally delivered about two dozen ballots to the box yesterday. Since we can mail them it's probably no big deal, but it felt good.
Every sign I saw said NO on 66 and 67; every commercial was the same. I particularly noticed the one where the woman was complaining that she needed a job - not higher taxes. I thought that was strange because she was an actress who was actually working as she was saying the line that she needed a job (she also probably didn't make near 250K).
Oh, well. The only Yes on 66 and 67 work I ran into was the good old fashioned grass roots kind. Phone calls and door knocks. I don't have television where I live so my perspective might be skewed a bit, but it seemed like Big Money got its butt kicked on this one.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
No your perspective isn't skewed your one of the lucky ones who can see reality as it really is.
... so have little idea about the Portland area.
But this was a very interesting vote around here, and I can't wait to see some numbers. Southern Oregon has a very strong libertarian streak tempered with an island of DFHs in Ashland. But on these measures, I noticed even some virtual teabaggers loudly endorsing YES.
Unlike the exact opposite information we're fed, making corporations and the rich pay their fair share seems to have pretty good support across the board.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
haven't heard their take. I live in a borderline State that can't decide if it's blue or red. Apathy seems to be the general state of "being" here and it sucks.
"But on these measures, I noticed even some virtual teabaggers loudly endorsing YES."
And the Democratic Party will be the very last to acknowledge that fact...
to beat BIG MONEY! Right frickin' on!!! I'm so happy to hear this about Oregon, one of my fav states!
About time the BIG guys, individuals and corporations, paid a portion of their "fair" share. I'd like to see them all pay way more than this will make them pay too. Time they carried the load that the little guys have been carrying for them for way too long!
Power to the people!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnFZsrs32Co
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
from the past, Ys! and yep... looks like we're gonna have to live for today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy6qcfUB12w
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
and here's another for you... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RVA6jObLyQ&NR...
Peace!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn85BeeiwZo
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
(she also probably didn't make near 250K)
You'd be right. The percentage of actors who make over $5,000 a year from their acting is around 2%, according to SAG and AFTRA (the union that would cover the woman you saw). The vast majority of them have other work that supports them. And with things the way they are, you can imagine the chances of that.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
that their big Corporatist money machine wasn't victorious at the polls. I truly hope that the Obama administration and their lickspittle Corporatist shills in the Congress quickly take note, reassess their Corporatist policy positions, and return to the real Democratic Party. Otherwise, they should expect more electoral outcomes similar to that of the Massachusetts Senatorial special election, which will ultimately rip the Democratic Party apart.
This reaffirms my contention that a grassroots liberal progressive organization with limited funds CAN defeat the Corporatists. Big Money doesn't VOTE/cannot VOTE, people do -- REAL PEOPLE ! - This is the manner in which the Liberal Progressives can take back their government from the Special Interests.
It is wonderful news. It is a small but important victory. What is needed is an avalanche of such victories ...
;-)
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
An exodus from the state . . That's how sick, selfish and depraved the upper classes have become.
It's sends a message though that the bottom 99% are fed up with it.
Avoiding taxes is just a hobby for these. They live where they want to live and then try to make life better for themselves.
unfortunately to many are.
But there's no hunky, truck-driving, former nude male model pimping out his daughters with which to capture the media's attention in this story.
Expect the event to go largely unremarked upon by the MSM.
the media slaves 24/7 to not report the Truth and distract people from it. If anything they will report this as that commie liberal state of Oregon wants to take away your freeedoms!!
Yea, commie-liberal just like Massachusetts was until two weeks ago when it suddenly became every right-winger's favorite all-American state.
Jesus. $10. How fucked up is that?
What's the new tax rate?
need to be told . . Your house you thought was worth $350,000 or whatever is now worth half if even that. Corporate America and Wall Street isn't going to give you permanent jobs for good pay and benefits, etc, etc, etc.
If you want to send your kid to college you better sock away $250,000 if your kid wants to go to Princeton for four years . . etc.
$150.00 Someone figured out that adjusting for inflation the current rate would be $141.
What's worse than that is the insane Kicker Law, wherein if the actual revenue exceeds the forecast (made 2 years in advance) by 2% or more, all the 'extra' tax revenues have to be returned to both individual and corporate taxpayers. In other words, rather than building a rainy day fund, the state is forced to give up the revenue. It was a project of a greedy little jerk named Don McIntyre who wanted more money for his single malt scotch and Cuban cigars. Between 1980 and this year we were assaulted by anti-tax activists who left the state in shambles.
I was amazed that 66 and 67 passed, but I love living in the Peoples Republic of Portland!
Here's a link to Oregon Center for Public Policy that talks about the measures. Here's a link that shows the county breakdown and more discussion on the measures.
No one in the MSM will report this except maybe MSNBC.
I was inundated with the crap.
I expect every buisness in Or. (including mine) to close it's doors and leave the state immediately. Unions will take over everything. Middle class incomes will evaporate and all the rich folk will run from the state like scared rats.
No one mentioned that Or. has no sales tax, or that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. If the rich don't like it, they are invited to go somewheres else, The quicker the better.
I can remember the property tax revolt which ended up slashing state services including higher education. Then some years later there was another education crisis which was going to lead to huge reductions in K12 education. About time Oregon started showing it wasn't some backwater suitable only for California retirees.
because property taxes assume home owners are willing to keep carrying much of the burden and they keep going up and up and up. The real problem is lack of efficiency, waste, fraud, and abuse in many City Governments.
tax weary doctors who will enjoy the "no state income tax" environment and our tort reformed "license to maim" civil code.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
...to be still registered to vote in Oregon, even after all these years.
is on gross sales, not profit. Just so you know.
nice job, Oregon.
That's how we pay our public bills...LMAO
What a crock. Here, businesses pay personal property tax on every stick of furniture they own, every year. And there's that sales tax thing, which Oregon doesn't have, of course. :)
Then when we don't get what we expect and realize we have to do it ourselves or it will never get done, fill a pothole in the street, or install a speed bump to keep from getting killed on your own street, the Government steps in and says . . no no no you can't do that that's city property you are hereby ordered to under Regulation #yadda yadda yadda!
!
Cue the Kabuki....
This means more than Scott Brown being elected. (WAY more IMO)
I'm sure we can count on the M$M to play up this major game changer. . . .
*crickets chirping*
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Well folks, you've seen it here first. The citizens of Oregon have decided to take matter into their own hands and teach the leaches of society a lesson. Either you contribute, or you can leave and go leach off another host. Now how's that for All American Grit.
If they can't handle 2% more tax to help pay for services then lets get some people and businesses who will. I'm sure people are running to Texas, home of almost the worst schools in the nation and a huge poverty rate. "Texas is like a whole other country". You have that right, a third world shithole full of graft and corruption.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
where 50% of the new Bush bubble era homes are empty and in foreclosure. Cheap bargains galore! Get em' while they're hot!
At the rate Florida's going Rush will be the only Resident left.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBL2kzKg4nY
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
and regret nothing.
measure 66 also dropped the state tax on unemployment insurance for the first $2000 or so.
*high fives*
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
Sounds like folks down in Oregon are using their common sense and showing those political hacks just who decides what... at least that's my hope!
hate education in America??? Are they hard line Taliban?
not to purchase from either of these two companies... I haven't bought Nike anything for many, many years and never will; as for Columbia, it won't be happening again. I can do with what I currently have, thanks very much.
Buy at second hand stores. The money doesn't go to the corporations, and for many of them it goes to a charity.
I have a friend with one of these stores... she's my first stop! Just a few changes to make, and it makes a huge difference.
As for those big corporation-run stores and their "star" owners, screw the bunch of 'em!
statewide referendum to fund services is a result of that Progressive Virus from the last century. Oops. Guess I did.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
else but I do agree that everyone has contributed to this god damn mess where in . . in one form or another.
Still there is no excuse not to FIX IT.
Progressives who are smart people got as caught up in fantasy land materialism this past 50 years as everyone else. Doing better then most economically in most cases. The boomers hit a sweet spot in American economic history that's obvious also. And now that they are getting up there in age they don't want to give back to the system that got them there they just want to feather their retirement nests.
Does that make Oregon donors?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
From Bank On It: How Cash-Starved States Can Create Their Own Credit:
Bank of North Dakota WebSite
Mother Jones Interview With President of Bank of North Dakota
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
...that this makes me think of Iceland?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2sJzec2wmw
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
by helping to fund 49 more State-owned Bank systems. It will not only alleviate the States' current debt crises, but would also help bring financial liquidity back to Main Street USA.
Of course, for that very reason, it will never happen. Yes, I am that cynical and disgusted with our Corporatist shill overlords in Washington ...
8-(
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
out of curiosity, does anyone know (i didn't see it in the provided links) what the wealthiest oregonians' new tax rate will be?
raising the taxes on the uber-wealthy (and, for me, that is def not the 250k households) and ensuring that there are no corporate tax-loops/havens should be a progressive call across the country (and, personally, i think legalizing and taxing 'it' would be another huge win for progressives)
It's a formula for corporations. The income tax is now a flat 9% for everyone. It is 10.8 - 11% for 3 years then drops to 9.9% You can see what a hardship that will be.
appreciate it
What kind of person doesn't think $125,000 per year isn't rich? Especially in Oregon.
who see that income bracket as paupers and servants.
pauper!
Cue the Kabuki....
have announced this week they are unloading roughly 5 million shares of Google stock they own, for a cool take home of $5.5 billion.
They own roughly 57.7 million shares between them.
Are these guys being taxed appropriately?
Considering California's impending $20 billion budget gap you would think they alone could raise enough to keep the state they do business in functioning for the next year.
thinking . . Oh wow man I wish I could be rich like that, rather then going . . WAIT ONE MINUTE HERE, WTF IS THIS?
And this is another reason I want to move back. The culture in that state is very family-oriented, traditional, and yet out-of-the-box creative....even a bit weird. Anybody hear of Voodoo Donuts?
Seriously. It's that combination which leads to Oregon's persona. Much of the state is redneck but even they are bit more progressive. Portland is very progressive with almost a European feel and mentality. They will raise taxes if they recognize it's the right thing to do.
Education levels are high in Oregon and the can-do attitude they have allows them to deal with problems in a realistic way, unlike say Kulifornia.
Phil Knight and Nike have been at odds with the local governments for years. No surprise they opposed this tax increase. I surprised Columbia has this position. Then again, the outdoor industry, once run by business-minded, yet socially-conscious soulful hippies, has been taken over by big corporations too. They've been shedding progressive-minded people for almost a decade now.
I don't believe in God. Teach a man to be a good citizen and you have solved the problem of life.
-Andrew Carnegie
Voodoo Donuts - Home of the Bacon Maple Bar and the world's best vegan donut. Yeah, the Tim Boyle opposition surprised me, too.
In Portland, they actually have a transit system that fits the size of the city, and that people use.
Killafornia.
Also, Portland is now the home of my guitar god Johnny Marr. That makes ME want to leave Canada and live there!
Edited. Comment came out in the wrong spot.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
The majority of Oregonians still have functioning brains and some common sense , the Repug / right wing mental disease hasn't spread to them yet .
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
seriously??
the primary reason I voted for Measure 66 was because it eliminates taxation on the first $2000 or so of unemployment insurance collected during 2009. so I didn't do it for the kids, I did it for me.
I made just a shave under $50k/year in 2008. I was laid off in January 2009 and had to collect unemployment for about 6 months before I finally found another job. my income dropped to about 50% of what I was earning, and my medical care actually increased (thanks COBRA).
prior to collecting UI, I earned bi-monthly paychecks. I earned a salary, and a check was processed twice a month. from that check, deductions were first applied (state income tax, federal, social security, etc) - one of those deductions was a monthly fee paid to the Oregon Employment Dept, should I need to collect unemployment.
this is why UI isn't welfare. its "our" money.
however.
the state and the fed tax UI as though it were income. even though, technically speaking, I've already paid my taxes on that income / forced investment for the years prior to my layoff.
I couldn't afford to have estimated taxes deducted from the paychecks that would have dropped me to about 40% of my prior income.
so I'm looking at a gigantic tax bill now.
further, its REALLY inappropriate, in my opinion, to consider UI taxable income. Social Security isn't taxable income for the same logic/reasoning.
so every wealthy Oregonian who's ever railed against capital gains taxes, estate/death taxes, and marriage taxes - and labelled them as "double taxes" (which, in all fairness, they are) - every wealthy Oregonian who decries these kinds of double taxes, who voted no on Measure 66 is, in a word, a hypocrite.
I voted yes on 66 because I don't think its fair to pay state income taxes on UI since I've already paid taxes on the same paychecks which fed into the UI system.
the fact that Measure 66 also raises taxes on the wealthy is pretty amusing, and quite beneficial. but it wasn't the primary reasoning behind my decision.
I voted yes on 66 to lower taxes on the middle class and lower class, and to make the policy regarding taxation of unemployment insurance much more fair.
***
measure 67 was a no brainer. any corporation that can't afford an extra $140/year deserves to go under.
And I didn't know that, about who pays for UI in Oregon. In Washington, the employer pays UI tax.
I feel it is my duty as a citizen, to tell everyone I talk to, that we must bring back the pre-Reagan tax code. Every problem we have in this country is because of the fucked up tax code. These rich bastards have stolen just about everything working americans use to have, and I am sick of the greeedy SOBs!
Of all the stupid shit our manchurian president has done, failing to tax the shit out of the rich and corporations is probably his worse dereliction of duty.
When Warren Buffet pays a lower tax rate than his $60,000 a year secretary, you have one seriously sick country. How immoral can a government be that allows this?
The interesting thing about targeted tax increases, is that some of the biggest wingnuts I know, who use to say stupid shit like "that's not fair," are all for it now!
Seems a nasty encounter with downsizing has had a "liberating" effect on their tax stance.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
AKA how to raise taxes on the wealthy without obstruction.
Tax revenues are necessary for the shared administration and benefit of a civil society.
Tax revenues are the only way that a government can ensure that all who receive advantage of social and public services are contributing an equitable amount for their continuation.
We live in a highly successful socialist nation that can get even better with a more equitable share of the tax load being shouldered by higher earners and the corporations that benefit from one of the most opportune countries in the world when it comes to engaging in commerce.
I want to start this in Washington State. I just don't know how to construct the language for a citizen's initiative here. If anyone has a suggestion for ways to start let me know! The state's secretary's office made it clear that new laws can be crafted entirely as an initiative and that any conflicts with federal law would be handled through the existing judicial processes.
Given the anti-corporate climate in the Northwest (as evident by what Oregon just did) I believe it would be possible to enact a citizen's initiative here that properly defines corporations as not being people.
I would love to watch the Supreme Court have to thumb their nose directly at the will of the people by overturning a citizen's initiative as opposed to some random case like Citizens United vs FEC. Maybe if it sticks we could keep that river of campaign cash and corporate propaganda ads out of our state.
Anyone who has knowledge of Washington laws, if you are reading this please offer feedback.
The Oregon initiatives were about income tax, and gross receipts tax. WA state has sales tax, instead.
Good luck with trying to implement an income tax in WA, if that's what you mean.
These Oregon initiatives that just passed have nothing to do with whether a corporation is a "person" or not. So it's not clear what you're talking about.
within Washington State. I am not talking about the awful tax system here. Merely saying that this news from Oregon gives me hope that Washington citizens would vote in a similar way. Admittedly I am reading a progressive slant to the votes in Oregon.
Oregon has the highest percentage of any state whose citizens self-identify as Atheists.
If that is so, perhaps this says something about a grounding in a semblance of reality when it comes to funding daily life.
well I live here and I certainly don't waste my Sundays talking about fairy tales and playing the grown up version of dungeons & dragons.
I'd love to see our country elect an atheist president.
I'd love to see just one president who doesn't go to church every Sunday.
squared.
regarding taxes, the code is way too complex and their are way too many manners in which one can receive a deduction for various expenditures.
If the code was amended to remove all deductions for expenditures and a reasonable level of taxation were implemented for both individuals and companies based on the dollars you earned as an individual or the revenue you brought in as a company, then we could actually have a discussion on taxation that would begin to move forward.
Many have talked about pre-Reagan tax rates. If there are no changes to the code, that is a good idea.
But let's drop all the pretense about deductions. They are mostly BS anyway.
I haven't thought about numbers, but this comment is maybe a start.
The rich should be paying their fair share. People making a million a year should pay 50% tax.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
When are the rest of you going to catch up and go to a "vote by mail" system?
is a textbook definition of a sock puppet. And a major league goofball.
I'll bet 100 dollars that Rahm is keeping this news from Obama.
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