Why in the world would Oregonians put up with a billion dollar tax hike?
Just after Governor Kulongoski was elected into office the crazy Legislature passed the biggest tax hike in Oregon history””about a billion dollars. Oregonians said, “Absolutely, positively no” and even though the Governor had promised not to back it up, he did back it up.
So, the voters went to the polls and they showed the Legislators exactly what they meant. They said “no” to that tax hike.
Now the Legislature has passed an even larger tax increase, a total of about $1.15 billion, and the voters should do the very same thing in this case. They should go to the polls. Exert all that time and effort to tell the Legislature that they don’t want a tax hike, and they especially don’t want a tax hike in the middle of bad economic times.
This time the Governor should be smart about it. He should side with the voters instead of the Government Class always anxious to protect its own paycheck.