Notes from Portland Budget meeting

I went to the Portland Budget meeting last night that was open to the public. It was interesting to see people express their joyous love for more taxes in front of a City Hall that has found so many creative and public ways to waste it. The tax of choice that was most commonly offered up from the pro-tax crowd was Mayor Potter’s botched income tax. The cell-tax was hardly mentioned, which tells me that the tax’s unpopularity and flawed nature has sunk even into the pro-taxers.
Mayor Potter ended the evening by talking about his plans to visit other mayors around Oregon. As Potter sees it, every other school district is having a shortage — even though no other school district is crying wolf like Portland. Potter talked of a state solution to the school funding issue. So beware when Potter visits your town, because he is likely on a mission for a statewide tax increase.