$10M tax $$ for mega-restaurant … while squashing others (HB 3377)

Hb 3377 uses publci tax dollars for private restaurants
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

Not many bills have advanced so far, but a big taxpayer pork bill in House Bill 3377 is already voted out of committee.

HB 3377 uses lottery funds to invest $10 million in a James Beard food hall.

First of all, our public tax dollars should not be used for the private benefit of a private corporation — especially when politicians say they are out of money and need to raise taxes.

Second, by taxing one restaurant in order to give the same tax dollars to another restaurant you are in fact picking and choosing which restaurants will succeed.  My dear friend, the late Tom Maginnis, once ran one of the more successful pizza restaurants in Oregon.   He shared on how his customers declined when the Blazers played a game.   The restaurants near the Blazers saw increases.   Remember, taxpayer dollars were used to subsidize the Blazer arena, and therefore tax dollars were used to draw away customers from legitimate family owned small businesses.  So when, politicians say this tax-funded restaurant project will generate revenue, what they really mean is that it will steal a pile of money from one pool of restaurants and give it to another pool of restaurants.

Third, even if you allow for tax cash to build a local restaurant, would this not be the proper role for the City of Portland instead of having rural Oregon pay for a project 500 miles away?

P.S. This “public market” is not public because you have to pay, so taxpayers have to pay for what they already paid for.

HB 3377 summary, “Authorizes lottery bonds for construction of the James Beard Public Market in Portland.” HB 3377 is sponsored by Representative Hudson, Nelson, Nguyen D, Nosse, Pham H, Ruiz

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