Testimony opens on Kotek power grab bill

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

HB 2528 is having another public hearing in a new committee — House Revenue Committee on Tues. May 13th.

You can submit online testimony here (click submit testimony tab).

TAX ALERT!  HB 2528 gives unelected bureaucrats the power to raises taxes and the power to ban legal products without a vote of the people or lawmakers.

Kotek’s own bill, House Bill 2528 gives the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) extraordinary added powers to regulate any nicotine product including the power to ban outright any nicotine product they dislike without a vote of the people or without a vote of our elected representatives.   Under HB 2528, unelected OHA officials could ban vaping/cigarettes at a whim and effectively destroy a hundred local small family businesses overnight.    This is a new way for politicians to outsource both power and decision making to unelected agencies.

If OHA officials do indeed wipe out these small businesses under HB 2528 (all without a vote), Oregon will lose an estimated $176 million of health care tax dollars from the current tobacco tax.  Ironically, vaping is often the #1 method people use to quit smoking.   Any OHA ban or partial ban (like banning flavor) will push Oregonians to buy their products online (made in China/Mexico) that are untaxed and unregulated.  HB 2528 gives OHA the power to extend nicotine taxes to other untaxed nicotine products without a vote of the people or lawmakers.   This is taxation without representation.  This will lead to other products being taxed w/o a vote.

You can submit online testimony here (click submit testimony tab).

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