The Oregonian calls it: Tax measures 66 and 67 (tax increases) pass

[Newsjock]

Source: The Oregonian

It looks Oregon corporations and high-income earners will pay higher state taxes as voters weighed in Tuesday on two hotly debated measures.

The Oregonian has determined that Measures 66 and 67 will pass.

Measure 66 raises the income tax paid by households earning at or above $250,000 a year or individual filers who make $125,000 or more. Measure 67 raises the state's $10 minimum corporate income tax.

Together they generate an estimated $727 million, which has already been budgeted by the 2009 Legislature for public schools and other state services.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/oregon_measure_66_measure_67_e.html

[Skink]

1. what is the meaning of this.

have they gone mad?

[Go2Peace]

22. This was clear, progressive, legislation enacted by a Progressive (D) majority

Lots of lessons to be had here. People are ready.

[L. Coyote]

36. Oregon says yes to taxing wealthy, businesses

Oregon says yes to taxing wealthy, businesses instead of a large budget deficit.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oregon_tax_vote
By TIM FOUGHT, Associated Press Writer Tim Fought, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jan 27, 6:34 am ET


PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon has set aside its history of shooting down tax increases on statewide ballots, with voters endorsing higher taxes on businesses and the rich amid a brutal economic slump.

Democrats in the Oregon Legislature made it as easy as they could for the voters to raise taxes on somebody else, and the electorate responded Tuesday by approving Measures 66 and 67.

The increases approved Tuesday will hit people with taxable income upward of $125,000 — estimated at fewer than 3 percent of filers. Many businesses who had been paying an annual $10 minimum will see that rise to at least $150.

...............

[Mojambo]

2. Good for them. n/t

[napi21]

3. How much is the increase? I heard about this vote this AM

on the radio, but I live in Ga. and listen on the net, so I didn't hear what the increase was going to be.

BTQ, congrats to all Oreegonians. It's about time somebody started to realize that the Pubs have pushed this tax cut way to far!

[stevedeshazer]

6. Raising the state income tax on $250K earners; raising the corp min tax from $10 to $150.

Another Oregon "radical" idea.

[cascadiance]

31. Actually it is for individuals making over $125k and couples making over $250k...

But unemployed folks get their taxes LOWERED retroactively, by exempting a big chunk of your unemployment benefits from state taxation.

[pa28]

4. Oregon voters rise to the occasion once again.

This race had featured a unintentionally comedic ad depicting a couple of workers at the corner bakery being laid off because 66&67 passed. Guess they'll have to find another place to make donuts now.

[MissB]

10. Which of course was filmed in California....

[condoleeza]

52. Actually, it was n/t

[glinda]

5. What a good idea. Wonder which state is next?Can States vote to adopt affordable Health Care?

[w4rma]

8. Yes. (nt)

[HuckleB]

11. Actually, the legislature passed both measures last year.

The anti-tax crowd, with plenty of out-of-state money then got the signatures to force us to vote on the bills.

[beardown]

39. Yes, and then did the murderous orphan plea.

They delay the enactment of the bill by forcing a special election and then put into their anti-measure ads that the bills will unfairly be retroactive.

Anti-tax propaganda takes a theme from the joke book pages.

[Faygo Kid]

7. Wow! Great news - listen up, Dems. Change we can believe in.

We DON'T want to freeze spending for the social safety net, or the environment, or the National Parks, for that matter, while spending more on war and Wall Street bailouts. Start representing us, not Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. They aren't coming around no matter what you do.

You fight for us. We fight for you. Period.

[HuckleB]

9. Woo hoo! I'm proud to be an Oregonian!

:patriot: :applause: :woohoo: :headbang: :fistbump: :bounce: :toast: :party:

[swag]

12. Unlike fiscal fool Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Oregon won't be paying with IOUs or begging Obama

for handouts.

[rpannier]

24. To be fair to him

He has tried to raise revenue and raise taxes

The republikkans in the legislature have voted against taxes in any form

To raise most taxes he needs a Super-majority to pass them. It isn't there

[KamaAina]

49. True, but he tried to raise taxes on us

while cutting them for corps. :grr:

And yes, the 2/3 majority is insane. Something needs to be done about it, and yesterday.

[me b zola]

13. It felt so good to mark "yes" on that ballot

Here's to hoping that this begins a trend, hopefully federal. :toast:

[HuckleB]

15. Cheers!

:toast:

[aquart]

20. Congratulations! Oregon leads the nation in common sense!

[leftinportland]

14. Good News!

This vote was on the national watch list - a measure of how dems will do in Nov. It will be interesting to see how they spin this. Thanks fellow Oregonians!

[depakid]

16. By WIDE margins

Message to the administration and the Senate:

Tossing aside taxes on the wealthiest- in place of taxing health benefits was not only exceptionally poor public policy- but self destructive politically.

Want to get ahead of the populist wave? -look to how Oregon's voters have responded to the challenge. The state is once again showing you (and rest of the nation) the way forward.

[imnKOgnito]

17. Oregon is quickly becoming the place I'd relocate to.

I'm in Washington now. Seems we used to have our heads on fairly straight up here, but it gets worse every year.

[Krakowiak]

21. I'm with you....

You would think the tax code would be more progressive here.

[Left Coast2020]

23. I thinking the same thing as a former resident.

Im stuck with the "boobemgrabber" in "Kali-fornia" who always seems to have his head in the sand as all repugs do. I miss the Willamette Valley.

[Lochloosa]

29. I stream Portland's local progressive radio station every day.

http://www.620kpoj.com/pages/listenlive.html

Their morning show (9:00 to 12:00 eastern) w/ Carl and Christine is worth listening to.

Bill Press in the morning and Thom at noon.

Give it a try

[bitchkitty]

32. You'd better like rain.

But since you're in Washington, I imagine you have experienced a little precipitation! ;)

[closeupready]

35. Oregon sounds terrific, but unemployment in Oregon is really high, though.

That's the one thing that would keep me from seriously considering a move there.

[BreweryYardRat]

43. My state's at roughly the same level of unemployment.

It's why I'm considering a move to Oregon. Job market's not any WORSE, and the climate's better.

[closeupready]

60. Oh, I see - well I guess if you have to be unemployed, be unemployed somewhere like Oregon,

where the scenery is lovely to look at. ;)

[Ferret Annica]

44. It's been interesting this resession to see the flow of people

change from a strong influx to a trend to head home or to other places jobs could be found.

Because the downside to Oregon is we are one of the worst states for unemployment right now. As far as my situation goes, this last year I only worked 2 and a half weeks. If I can't find a job soon, I might head back to Connecticut for a while.

[alstephenson]

46. I agree. But I'm in Arizona and they have their heads up their ass.

No. 49 in per pupil spending (behind only Mississippi). They just made more cuts to education, as well as all services. But we sure won't be raising taxes here any time soon. I took a trip to Portland last year and really liked it. Wish it was warmer/sunnier.

[quakerboy]

54. You can keep your sun

Its plenty warm and dry here for us ducks and beavers and assorted webbed and finned critters. If we didn't have the rain, it wouldn't be a rainforest, and I wouldn't want to live here.

[quakerboy]

18. Good for us

[HuckleB]

19. ...

:kick:

[fasttense]

25. What corporation will have to pay a little more of their fair share of taxes?

I'm sure the Dancing Supremes will over turn that in no time.

[Auggie]

26. If Oregon can do it, so can California

[spicegal]

27. Good for them.

Americans need to get over this rich entitlement thing that's been peddled by conservatives the last 30 or so years. I thought that was one of the reasons we fought the Revolutionary War.

[fasttense]

28. I think they called it trickle down economics

But in actuality it is more like trickle on.

[cascadiance]

30. Or "tinkle on" economics...

Yes, we've been tinkled on for way too long. It's time that the people just say NO! I'm proud as a new Oregonian in my first vote in an election here to vote YES on both measures to help send a message. Obama and you other DLCers! Are you listening? Are you still going to destroy the Democratic Party in your corporatist BS? Hope Obama acknowledges this in his speech tonight! If not it's one more sign that we need a REAL change to replace the "stated change" that never happened.

[Odin2005]

33. Good news!

[potone]

34. I am so relieved.

We were facing a disaster in education and social services if these measures failed. Good news for a change! Thanks you, fellow Oregonians!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[DLnyc]

37. Boy would New York's budget be better off if

we made the super-rich pony up some of the monster tax breaks they got under Ray-guns and *.

Wise and sensible legislation. This is the way forward for all of us.

[quakerboy]

51. Interestingly

A bunch of the wingers commenting below the Oregonian article were expounding their belief that this would destroy Oregon, just like they claim that it did New York. You did know all the rich people left NY. As exemplified by Limbaugh.

If only this meant that anyone like Limbaugh would leave, I would be willing to double down and add a few more similar measures. Maybe on a national level, as well.

[DLnyc]

59. Well, really this should be done on a national level, as President Obama

argued tonight in the SOTU speech. But meanwhile on a state level, I thought a basic idea of wealth was you could live wherever you want. If you have to move to avoid a slight tax increase, what good is it to be wealthy? Realisticly, people making over 250,000 a year aren't going to be scared out of NY by a surcharge like this. In fact, intelligent people with good incomes support HIGHER taxes on higher earners, since that tends to promote a more stable society with less chance of nationalization of industries, violent revolution, pitchforks and guillotines and other boring unpleasantries.

[slackmaster]

38. With no state sales tax and low personal income taxes for most people...

...Oregon residents still pay some of the lowest taxes of any people in the USA.

[jobendorfer]

40. Take a look at the vote distribution by county

There's a map in the article referenced in the OP showing the vote by county.
Strong support in the Portland area ( Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas counties ).
Net positive support in Marion, Benton, Lane counties and a couple of the coastal counties.
Southern and eastern Oregon all negative.

Here's the thing I just can't wrap my head around.
Eastern Oregon is empty and economically depressed. There are counties out there with a just a couple of thousand residents. Over much of Eastern Oregon the population density is < 1 person/square mile. Unemployment out there is 15% when the national economy is roaring. Right now unemployment out there is 18%-20%, maybe higher. If you're not a self-employed rancher eaking out a (thin) living, and you don't have a state job, a county job, or a job working on a public works project of some sort, you're probably not working. All of which is to say that these counties' very existence depends on a steady stream of revenue from the State government for education, public works projects, and the unemployment system. If that money shuts off, these counties would dry up and blow away ( did I mention that eastern Oregon is full of ghost towns? ).

So here comes a vote on two bills intending to stabilize the state revenue.
What do residents of these counties do?
Reflexively vote no, even though I doubt there's more than a handful of residents per county that would actually pay a higher tax.

Go figure.

J.

[LuckyLib]

41. Their faces are glued to FAUX News. That and listening to Rush.

Shooting themselves in the foot is a national pastime for folks who don't read, don't care to really understand who is screwing them.

[Generator]

42. Best news all year

And I do mean all. What a shitty year so far for the smart and decent people in this country and the people of Haiti and Afghanistan.

[Ter]

45. "individual filers who make $125,000 or more"

These people are not rich and should not have their taxes increased.

[alstephenson]

47. Oh, please.

It's a very small increase. I would be happy to pay more in taxes to provide for education and services, especially if I made over $125,000. You're kind of selfish, don't you think?

[depakid]

48. A 1.8% increase on every dollar after $125,000 in taxable income is hardly some horrific burden

Do the math and see for yourself.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

50. Fuck 'em.

Those rich pricks will finally have to pay their fair share instead of sponging of the rest of us.

[quakerboy]

53. They are and they should

They may not be "uber rich". But a single person who is making 125k a year is quite wealthy compared to most of the nation. And even more wealthy compared to most of the world. And I would argue that they are objectively rich

From Dictionary.com

Rich
1.Having wealth or great possessions; abundantly supplied with resources, means, or funds

Breaking this down, in the most Expensive part of Oregon, you can get very good lodgings for well under $2000 a month. You can eat extremely well on $1000 a month. You can drive a very nice car for $1000 a month, even with terrible credit, poor gas mileage, and a horrible driving record. You can watch a movie in the theater every night, with popcorn for $500. Etc. Add it all up, and add a massive margin for Health care, retirement, and pure extravagance, and you can live like a king here for 7.5k a month. That would be 90k a year. Pretty close to what 125 comes to after taxes. If someone living at that level cannot manage to afford the extra $7.50, yes seven dollars and fifty cents, to allow the schools to continue without cuts and the eldercare system to not implode, and any number of other things, then they have far greater problems than this tax.

[condoleeza]

55. Shhhhhh...I'm happy to pay another $140 a year but we've got enough people here already. n/t

[quakerboy]

56. Thats cause half of California moved up. They took our jobs!!

Send em all back across the border and put up a fence, I always say (firmly tongue in cheek, considering where I was born)

[condoleeza]

57. Well, if you're from CA, I guess my daughter living there equates it. n/t

[MH1]

58. I am going to seriously look at moving to Oregon

it is starting to look like the sanest state in the country

[LeFleur1]

61. Won't the Businesses in Oregon....

just move to South Carolina?