ah, yes, tax reform.    Reform is one of those words...

The Oregon Legislature is stuck in the mire of its decision to not increase state taxation when an initiative shifted a significant part of the burden of local taxation (school funding) to the state.  Instead of raising more revenue to meet the greater need, law makers decided to rely on the increased revenue from the expanding economy and, of course, gambling money.

But the state economy has stopped expanding and has, in fact, contracted over the past four years or so.  With that has come a contraction of the revenue raised by our all-but-flat income tax.  The programs and services that have always been funded by state revenue have been pitted against the new responsibility to fund education in the process of dividing less and less money.

After two regular legislative sessions, and five special sessions, some members are actually talking about reforming the tax system.  Yes, most members are still grandstanding and otherwise using their time in office to set the stage for the next election, but a small number are trying to figure out how to get out of this mess.  Their voices are hard to hear through the din raised by those whose interests are served very nicely by a continuation of this crisis.

But what are these few voices proposing?  They want to maintain the all-but-flat (regressive) income tax, they want to add a new regressive tax (sales tax), cut estate and capital gains taxes.  The result of this reform  will raise taxes on the low and middle class and deliver substantial tax cuts to the wealthiest Oregonians!

This is no accident.  This is class warfare at its finest.  It's what the Bush tax cuts and the "pension reform" bills currently in Congress are meant to do.  In a few years the coming federal crisis will be, in the words of a great American, "Deja Vu all over again" for those of us who live in Oregon.

7:41:03 AM