COMMENTARY
Solit-roll tax is best bet for Oreaon
By Jason W Moore
How can students work to
ensure quality, afTordablo
education?
The Oregon budget crisis af
fects evoryone without enough
money to get by those days.
Students are hit especially
hard, as skyrocketing tuition
threatens to deny us a college
education.
The most promising re
sponse, spearheaded by Oregon
Fair Share, to the post-Measuro
5 crisis Is the Fair Homeowner*
and Renter’s Relief initiative on
the November 1992 ballot. The
measure would merely require
businesses to pay their fair
share, while keeping the good
and fair part of Measure 5
that part not yet realized — tax
relief for Oregon homeowners
The measure would split the
property tax rolls between com
mercial and residential proper
ty, on the basis that income
producing property should bo
taxed at a higher rate than the
homes in which people live. In
come-producing properly
would bo taxed at no more than
$30-per-$l,000 of assessed val
uo, less than what businesses
were paying in L.ane and
Multnomah counties before
Measure 5 passed.
Homeowners would bo able
to see gonuino tax roliof, and
renters would receive lux re
bates equal to one month's runt.
While big business und their
allies in the Republican Party
Oregon Citizens Alliance axis
will undoubtedly fall back on
anti-tax demagoguery to attack
Pair Share’s initiative, uny busi
ness exodus stemming from the
restoration of 1990 tax levels Is
highly improbable. In fact, nu
merous studies indicate that
taxation Is only a minor factor
In determining whether busi
ness remains located In a state.
Despite the possibility of an
equitablo solution to a substan
tial part of the Measure 5 disas
ter — Fair Shuro’s initiative
would provide about two
thirds. or $900 million, of the
budget shortfall — there are
some who continue to press for
a sales tax. Such a tax is not
only fundamentally unfair.but
economically shortsighted. At a
time when consumer confi
dence is hitting rock bottom
and the recession is destroying
purchasing power through un
employment and falling real
wages, business interests sock
to take even more money out of
the hands of those who ms'd it
most.
The giant fraud bvTilnd Meas
ure 5 is that it amounts to little
more than multi-billion dollar
tax break for Oregon's commer
cial landowners — utilities,
railroads. limber companies
and bankers. Sixty percent of
the tax break went to business.
The homeowners who were
supposed to benefit saw little
rollnf und many saw an in
crease.
"Generally, you're going to
see a shift in taxes away from
utilities, away from iarge indus
trial companies, and onto resi
dential property," Jim Wilcox
of the State Department of Rev
enue said last fall. In 1991-92,
state tax analysts estimate
homeowners will fool 42 per
cent of the total tax bill, while
commercial property owners
will pay 13 percent, industrial
property owners 10 percent
and utilities only 7 percent.
The situation in Multnomah
County vividly Illustrates this
point. While commercial prop
erty tax assessments rose just
barely above the rate of infla
tion. homeowners were struck
by 20-porcnnl Increases.
Measure 5 has only worsened
the state's already regressive
tax structure. In concrete terms,
this moans those least ubto to
pay will bo forced to pay even
more. Already, wo ve seen so
cial services slashed and uni
versities decimated, with more
to come if nothing is done. We
now hoar talk of cutting basic
school support by 2B percent
und eliminating 6,000 students
from the state's public universi
ties.
Any sane strategy for Ore
gon's future requires a tax
structure capablo of caring for
its people. Such a strategy must
not only provide the full range
of human services, but seek to
economically and politically
TNI PAR SIM By GARY LARSON
"Who* whoa whoa, young man!
You watt the plank Hfca avaryona alaa!
empower citizens
The tax debate throughout
the 1980s has been dominated
bv the right-wing, who argue
that the Issue Is “Big" versus
"Small" government, when In
fact the issue concerns the
power of centralized govern
ment. What's more. If business
interests get the sales tax
they're itching for. Oregonians
will he victimized hv the most
bureaucratic, inefficient and
centralized lax ever created
Meanwhile, our public
schools, community colleges
and universities, absolutely vi
tal to Oregon's economic and
social futun\ will tie stripped
down and shut down Programs
for needy children, poor fami
lies, the homeless, lowcr-in
come elderly and the disabled
will remain dismally under
funded. Poverty and all the so
cial problems with which it is
associated - crime, drug
ubuse; hate crimes against
women, lesbians and gays, and
people of color, homelessness,
and the unpardonable existence
of Third World conditions in
general will continue to
worsen.
Wo need fair taxation for ev
eryone's benefit. It is economic
ally sensible because it creates
a stronger consumer market by
channeling money to the bot
tom of Ihe class structure, spur
ring economic activity through
demand, rather than tho pres
ent system when.’ money stag
nates at the lop and is used for
speculation, not Investment.
Most of all, however, pro
gressive taxation makes good
sense because It Is humane. Or
egon needs to fund Us schools
and universities. Its programs
for children and others In need,
and the full-range of human
service simply because we huve
respect for people less fortu
nate.
Progressive taxation is a step
In tho right direction, and for
Oregon's students it Is the only
sensible thing to do. Support
the Fair Tax initiative by sign
ing the petition or by calling
Lane Fair Share at :i44-0<>50
jason W. Moore is editorial
l>ugu editor for the Student In
surgent.
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