July 01, 2009
Author: CFM Staff
The 2009 Oregon legislative session is now in the history books. Majority Democrats tout achievements that include expansion of health care coverage to uninsured Oregonians and a major transportation funding bill. However, the lasting legacy of the session may center on the decision by Democratic legislative leaders to rely on a tax increase to balance the budget.
A pair of bills to increase corporate and personal income tax rates face a likely referendum next January. If the tax hikes reach the ballot and voters reject them, lawmakers will return to Salem in February to look for deeper spending cuts.
More ominously, a handful of Democrats sitting in previously Republican House seats may experience their own referendum as they seek re-election in 2010 defending their pro-tax vote. There is no question Republicans will make those tax votes the wedge issue of the next election as they seek to reduce the 36-24 Democratic advantage in the House and 18-12 majority in the Senate.
Despite much praise for the smooth operation and low level of partisan rancor of the 2009 legislative session, Democratic leaders also are receiving criticism for a late-session move to toy with how voters might cast their ballots on the tax bills. Republicans barely had a chance to chime in before newspaper editorials branded the move as "cynical" and "callous." The idea was dropped after angry callers nearly melted down phone lines into the Capitol. (See sidebar)
Raising taxes revealed sharp political and philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats said their budget plan that combined $2 billion in spending cuts, use of federal stimulus dollars and $733 million in new tax revenues was fair and balanced. Republicans said raising taxes in a recession makes no sense, especially on businesses and higher income Oregonians that generate jobs.
CFM ONLINE
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
  |
|
|
Oregon Institute of Technology
Federal Affairs
When the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) needed federal funding in 2007 to build a geothermal power generation facility and a Center for Health Professions, the CFM Federal Affairs team helped...
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
| 
