Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 19, 1994)
EDITORIAL ‘Work-privilege’ tax inappropriate, unfair Tlio Eugene City Council would bo wise to reconsider a vote made by some of its members at its July 13 meet ing. By a 4-3 margin, the council endorsed a new "work privilege'' tax. which would be levied against individ uals who work, but do not live, within the city limits. Council members favoring the tax appeared to see it as a possible solution to the city's budget woes, worsened by the failure of a May bond issue that would havo helped pay for a number of needed services, including building maintenance, an expanded library and the opening of a new fire station, already built. As important as these projects are. paying for them with a tax on nonresidents is both inappropriate and unfair. The tax is inappropriate because it assumes — quite incorrectly — that nonresidents working in Eugene are getting a free ride when it comes to the use of city ser vices. But taxes are not the only way to make a contri bution to the city: nonresidents support Eugene in oth er ways. Take the library, for instance. Nonresidents have to pay J55 per household for library privileges, each yoar. That hardly constitutes a free ride. Before the library issue took center stage, the city pushed other expensive projects such as the building of the Hull Center and the expansion of tho Eugene Air port. Both of these depend heavily on the patronage of nonresidents. These facilities are regional in nature, and could not survive without the holp of nonresidents, who buy plane tickets and symphony tickets, too — just like residents. If no one outside the city took advantage of these facilities, there is no wsy they would have the suc cess that they currently enjoy. People living in neighborhoods that are covered by Eugene fire and sewer services, such as the Santa Clara River Road area, pay additional taxes to receive those benefits as well. There is no free ride. Of course, many of the nonresidents from more out lying regions receive virtually no benefits at all from the city. So a tax on them is even more inappropriate. A "work-privilege" tax is also unfair. Many of the tax's opponents have taken up the Revo lutionary War rallying cry, "No taxation without repre sentation," in speaking out against the tax. Such a charge is fitting, indeed, the nonresidents who would pay the tax have no legal say in the matter — they have no rep resentatives on the council and have practically no legal authority to repeal the tax. Nonresidents cannot prevent the tax; they also cannot avoid it. jobs are relatively permanent things. Most peo pie do not have the luxury of quitting a job and finding another where the taxes are more fair. if tho city passed a restaurant tax, for example, people could oat elsewhere. But if the city passes o "work privilege" tax, nonresidents will just have to accept it. The city has nonresidents over a barrel, and there's noth ing they can do about it. The "work-privilege" tax was proposed by a council which would like to spend more money than the city takes in. When the voters of Eugene would not agree to more taxes — as was shown in tho May election — tho council decided to try to tax a group that couldn't say no. It isn't fair. And nonresidents should continue to oppose tho "work-privilege" tax — through letters, phono calls and, if necessary, boycotts of Eugono busi nesses. Oregon Daily PO BOl JtS* fUGfNf ORfGOW*;*X) The Oeg<*> Datfy E mr* jkl •-» published cia% Monday through l?<Uy during »Nt> school year and Tuesday and Thursday durmg the iummoi by the Otegon Da.'y Emerald Pub*‘%hmg Co Inc . aHh« Uruv**vty ot Oregon Eugene Oregon The Emerald 0(wa!« independency o» t*e Un(verity othce* at Surle 300 0> the [*b Mtmontf Union and is a member the Associated Press The Emerald <» private property The unlawful removal o» use o* papers s prosecutable by >aw Editor Kafy Soto Associate Editors Meg Dedotph, la Saiccc a David Thom Photo Editor: Michael Sh*ry^er Night Editor: Davto Thom General Manager Jody Advertising Director Mark Walter Production Manager M' Mr Rosa Advertising. Brian Dams. Sut*r Outta Tony I o* fen M.von M»chae< M lecte Classified Bec»y Me*chant Ma nager Business: Kathy Carbone St4NPVwtv Distribution: John long, f er«nc RakQCH Production Dee MeCobb. Production Coo&WHOf Tera Gauftney NtwwoOfn Butin#»s OftVc« 34*-5511 W6-SS12 Dttpiay Advertising Classified Advertising 346-3712 346 4343 f IN ^°!L*J5s£ \ 1 11f j^,e | TW a^Mto «*m £*V if AT / J */,v£ . Oft \AjOU.b Be if IT CnO»r HAV( 7t#s WHCWim WME61 x LETTERS Inquisition In response to Ixiretla Nt*et of the CXIA (ODE. July 7) It is just this sort of twisting of the idea of natural law under the guise of compassion that fueled crusades like the Inquisition As a six iety, we have moved away from ideas like natural law for the very rea son that it is open to manipula tion by groups which purport to interpret it for the rest of us using a narrow vision growing out of fear and rigidity An exi ellent distillation of the natural law was posited by Hu hard Mayhury in his book, Whatever Happened to lustice?, wherein he reduced tt to two basic laws "Do all you have agreed to do" and “Do not encroach on other persons or their property." When groups like the (XIA encroach on the freedom and pri vacy of individuals who are harmlessly expressing who they are, they are violating the most hasu. ol natural laws All of us struggle as individuals in society to survive, to he as much our selves as we dare, to be vulner able, to connect, to love In short, we are all seeking to live up to our divine nature Having people like Loretta Neet pass misin formed judgment on intimate aspects of our journey makes the realization of ourselves that much harder. Please tend your own garden. Julie Masters Law Metz off base in response to the article by Chris Metz (ODE. July 14) You obviously don't understand the game of baseball if you believe that 1994 is a good year for the game Yes. the All-Star game was great, but that seems to be the only shining light in this guar anteed strike year. With the re-alignment of the divisions, comparing today's Cleveland Indians to the Cleve land team that last won a pen nant in 1954 is like comparing apples and oranges And the fact that a sub- 500 club like Texas can actually win a pennant, let alone the World Series, shows how the new system will make mediocre teams into world champs. The reason the season lasts for 160-plus games is to determine who deserves the chance to lx* considered great, not to have losing teams become champions. While the "big three” (Griffey Jr . Thomas, Williams) are su perstar players and deserve to bo recognized in the record books, it must bo done with asterisks Today’s game is done with a five man rotation, as opposed to n four-man rotation previously, and with the induction of the expan sion teams, the pitching in base ball isn't as strong from tup to bottom as it once was. These changes in the game have cheap ened the marvelous feats from the likenesses of Maris, Mantle and Ruth, just to name a few. 1’rn afraid what once was a child's game played hv adults is now an adults' game played by businessmen. Thom is only one reason l>ehind this mess in base ball (strike included): America's desire for mediot re television has made America's game mediocre as well. The TV audience wants shorter games, yet they also demand more runs, and common sense will tell you that these can't possibly coexist Baseball will continue to change so long as corporate TV America makes decisions that satisfy its own needs, including adding even more cities to get more TV revenue to pay even more .220 hatters multi-million dollar contracts. I hope a strike does not hap pen, hut if it does, it won't make much of a difference to me Just as a "juiced" hall doesn't mat ter to you, I could care less to see a "wild card” team win a pen nant, or to see pitchers giving up home runs after home runs. And yes, there was a game a few weeks ago between California and Baltimore that included more than 10 home runs. I only hope purists like me will toll the stones to our children and grandchildren about the great ones that once played a game known as America's game. Base hall Robert Polk Eugene Piercing Open Letter to Anne Moser kornfeld [ODE. July 14): So you don't like body piercing, huh? You've made this perfectly clear. Someone else doesn't like the way other people dress. Maybe someone else hates the way oth er people talk And wo bother to wonder what's wrong with the world today? I believe there are more important things to worry about than someone elso's pierced nipple. What you've done is killed two birds with one stone. Problem is. one of the birds was mine. You've derided other folks for no good reason (your bird). Cafe, that must he Ok. people do it every day. right? But piercers are exor cising a legal right which does not infringe upon yours (my bird). Ca«t this through your head: it's all right for people to he different than you. It's a scary idea (fur some), but a mature one. The unfortunate fact is many people have attitudes similar to yours. Different things hug each one of us For you to write (and us to read about) useless com plaints is a waste of energy. Please try to complain about something worthwhile next time, if complain you must. Otherwise, attempt a more interesting per spective on the subject Peter Shair Eugene LETTERS POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing comments on topics of interest to the University community. „ The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.
