Taxpayer Association of Oregon breaking news,

Picture: Grassroots coordinator Paulette Pyle speaks in front of a massive stack of referendum petition boxes. Left is Ross Day of Common Sense for Oregon. On the right is Russ Walker (Freedomworks) and Andrew Over (State Director Oregon GOP).

The Stop Job Killing Taxes campaign turned in an incredible 129,500 signatures (petition 301) and 126,183 (petition 302) which is more than double the needed requirement.

The rally at the steps of the Secretary of State’s office was led by Paulette Pyle a veteran grassroots activists and agriculture-forestry advocate. Several small businesses stepped forward to telling a compelling story. A local car dealership businesswoman said that their minimum tax would go from $10 to $30,000 a year — a 3,000% increase at a time when car dealers are reeling in losses. The businesswoman shared to the crowd that she once asked her local lawmaker, who voted for the tax, as to how any business could pay such taxes when profits plunge. The clueless politician responded to her question, “You can raise the price of your cars and trucks”. The audience gasped at response. Other business owners shared about painful layoffs and even more layoffs to come if the tax passes.

Jeff Kropf of Americans for Prosperity Oregon Chapter spoke and said “It is wrong to raise taxes in a recession which will cost jobs at the same time when the state has five billion in reserves and is hiring new employees.” A chart near Jeff Kropf showed how private sector jobs dropped by over 70,000 while government jobs grew.

Russ Walker spoke on how over 10,000 Freedomworks volunteers helped circulate petitions and created a flood of volunteer signatures.

One lady in the crowd, who was waving her American flag, was Becky Roth. Becky personally gathered over 700 signatures by going door to door of every small businesses she could find. Many business owners did not know about the tax and were shocked. Employees wanting to keep their jobs flocked to Becky to sign the petition like a modern day Paul Revere.

Now the focus goes from the initiative petition referendum process to defeating the business tax and income tax measure at the ballot.

P.S. the Taxpayer Association wanted to thank all of the people that helped the coalition gather so many signatures. Your efforts paid off.