As Dems road tax plan hurts poor, GOP plan offers zero tax hikes

As Oregon Dems take aim at the poor, GOP offers roads funding blueprint with zero tax hikes
By Americans for Tax Reform
& Taxpayers Association of Oregon

Doubling the gas tax. Doubling the car registration fee. A new 1% tax on vehicle purchases.

These are the marquee items in big-city Oregon Democrats’ plan to rob their constituents of another one-and-a-half billion dollars, claiming it’s the only way to keep the roads up and running.

But on Friday, flanked by members of her caucus, House Minority Leader Christine Drazan smacked down the notion that tax increases are the only path forward. In a press conference that slammed Democrats for dismissing the harmful effect of taxes on their constituents, the minority lawmakers offered up a fiscally responsible alternative, filled to the brim with $732 million in specific cuts to a bloated transportation agency budget that has grown by over 30% in just the last four years.

“We have today a proposal which will stabilize the Department of Transportation without a tax increase,” said Rep. Drazan. “So my question to my Democrat colleagues is: Why are they so determined to raise taxes when they don’t have to?”

Indeed, Speaker Julie Fahey’s plan involves countless new and higher taxes. So far, none have been walked back. Democrats control exactly 60% of seats in Oregon’s House and Senate, the bare minimum required to raise taxes, making the specter of higher taxes the realest it has been in years.

Here is a sampling of the plunder Oregonians can expect under Speaker Fahey’s tax-o-rama:

• $268 million: 80% payroll tax increase, 0.1% to 0.18%. (Payroll taxes hit the poor the hardest.)

• $50 million: New 4% “tire pollution tax.” (Smells like a sales tax!)

• $1 million: 63% bike tax hike. (Bikes don’t emit greenhouse gases – why do Democrats want to disincentivize their use?)

• $44.8 million: 60% Vehicle Privilege Tax increase (0.5% to 0.8%). (Vehicle taxes are paid by anyone with any car, including the working poor.)

Remember, these taxes are in ADDITION to the taxes listed above:

#1. $486 million: 1% vehicle sales tax. (Remember this next time Democrats claim they would never pass a statewide sales tax.)

#2. Double the gas tax. Double the vehicle registration fee. Nearly double the titling fee. (Oregon already has the 4^th highest gas prices in the country.)

As opposed to Speaker Fahey’s laundry list of tax hikes on the poor, Rep. Drazan’s recommendations will receive a warm reception in Oregon households already struggling with the price of food and energy. Here are a few of our favorite common-sense reforms proposed at the press conference:

#3. $68 million: Eliminate all vacant positions at Oregon Department of Transportation. (Many of these chairs have been collecting dust for years. Taxpayer dollars should be spent on roads and bridges, not bureaucratic bloat.)

#4. $39 million: Redirect money from ODOT’s civil rights division and climate initiatives. (Civil rights and climate change are not in the purview of a state transportation agency.)

#5. $1-2 million: Lease out unused ODOT office space in Salem. (Half of state employees work remotely. It’s high time to do something useful with that office space.)

#6. $40 million: Clean 3% budget cut. (ODOT saw a 31% increase in its budget in just four years (2021 to 2025). A three percent cut today is a no-brainer.)

The overfunded ODOT has certainly not been a model of good governance. Back in February, Representative Shelly Boshart Davis, the ranking member on the House Transportation Committee, pointed out that shoveling more tax dollars into ODOT would be a mistake after years of crucial errors at the agency.

“A billion-dollar budget mistake coupled with a more than 300% increase on the cost of the Abernethy Bridge [on Interstate 205] are just two examples, although massive, of problems that need to be fixed and accounted for before we ask Oregonians for another dollar,” Boshart Davis said.

Though Speaker Fahey has only doubled down on her tax hikes, it only takes one Democrat to put a stop to these regressive policies. Perhaps the GOP’s common-sense reform package will be enough to sway a moderate who has empathy for the working poor, whom these tax hikes squarely target.