EDITORIAL
Question request
for budget change
Gov. John Kitzhaber dropped a bombshell on the Ore
gon Legislature Monday when he announced another
Si40 million might be necessary to pay for housing and
handling prisoners in 1995-97.
The request to the Legislature almost seems criminal
itself. It’s no secret that Oregon’s prison population is
large and getting bigger. As Kitzhaber himself said, dis
trict attorneys are charging suspects more, judges are
levying longer sentences and parole boards are much
less generous in giving out parole.
Specifically, Kitzhaber has changed his estimate of the
prison population drastically, believing now that 4.510
new inmates would be added to state prisons in the next
two years instead of 1,290,
So what's new? In the time since Kitzhaber first
announced a proposed budget several months ago, crime
hasn’t exploded in Oregon. Judges aren’t filling up pris
ons any faster than before. Why the urgent change In pol
icy?
There are several possible answers. As Questionable as
it might seem, it is possible that Kitzhaber really did
lowball the costs for corrections by S140 million. It's also
possible that he is anticipating higher costs after Orego
nians mandated minimum sentences for certain crimes
in tho November elections.
However. Republicans in the Legislature are seeing
things differently. After they promised voters that taxes
would not bo raised, they soe the request for more funds
as a potential political tactic and a way for Kitzhaber to
embarrass Republicans. As one said. Republicans are not
going to let themselves lie positioned.
And who can blame them? It's the job of the opposi
tion party to question requests and policies by the other
party. This request from the Governor must be looked
into, Oregonians deserve to know why millions more
dollars are needed than previously anticipated.
Even if it is conceded by legislators that additional
money will be needed for Oregon prisons, it is unlikely
there will be any quick consensus in the Legislature, The
prison budget will not be resolved soon and tho money
won’t be moving any quicker. Sudden monetary
requests, especially large ones, must be looked at care
hilly to ensure they are necessary.
One would hope that Kitzhaber’s motivation for
requesting the money isn’t political. Everyone would
agree that prisons are an ossential part of society and
should be funded accordingly Nobody wants to see vio
lent criminals out on the street who should be behind
bars because prison funding was too low. Playing on the
emotions of citizens worried about crime to request more
money for corrections is not any better.
Prisons must be funded, but so do many other pro
grams. The $140 million request must be questioned.
Oregon Daily
Emerald
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■ OPINION
Cut programs to reduce taxes
Primp A. J, Fovtsm
This pari of the year has
nol been easy. Ijisi week's
snowfall was a major
pain, our Rose Bowl coaching
staff has been picked apart by
the St Louis Rams, and worst of
all. Van Helen ha* released a
new album
However, there is one situa
tion more terrifying, depressing,
and destructive to our country
than any of the previously men
tioned
Of course, 1 am referring to
those evil and capricious num
ber* which are on many of our
minds right now IS (as in
April), and 1040 (as in the most
dreaded of dreadfuls, the tax
form).
That's right folks, it's almost
time to send our hard-earned
money to )ohn Kitrhaber and
Bill Clinton so we can watch our
federal, state, and local govern
ments expand even more Heav
en knows, that's all we need
As the cash Is ripped away
from the hands that earned it,
namely ours, we should reflect
upon taxation for a moment and
where all of the money goes.
To keep a historical perspec
tive, we should start with Amer
ica's greatest political philoso
pher, lames Madison The
founding father was • firm
believer in proper laissez-faire
free market capitalism, end was
a proponent of the work that
most precisely propagates these
truths, Adam Smith's The
Wealth of Nations.
Madison believed taxation
should be as unburdensome as
possible He believed govern
ment's intrusion (and taxes are a
violent intrusion) into the free
market should be "as free as the
policy of nations will admit."
Oh, how far we have fallen.
We have state taxes, local tax
es. incidental fees (yes. that is a
tax), sales taxes, property taxes,
< apitai gains taxes, dividend
taxes, interest taxes, death tax
es need I continue?
And are we getting are mon
ey 's worth7 No wav Most of the
money goes to entitlement pro
grams which are inefficient,
such as Social Security or
Medicare, agricultural subsidies
that in the long run hurt farmers
rather than help them, or waste
ful pork for elected officials to
send back home so their con
stituents will be happy
These sort of nonsensical pro
grams, especially Social Securi
ty. should he completely abol
ished in favor of balancing the
budget and reducing taxes
It is disturbing that the Amer
ican people have, for the most
part, sat idly as the government
has not only been profligate
with our money, but through
waste and unnei essary interven
tion, has decreased our nation's
productivity and job availabili
ty
Also, there is another grave
problem with our tax system
Contrary to popular belief in
Eugene, Santa Crui, and Berke
ley, the worst thing that can
happen to an economy is social
ism Unfortunately, our tax sys
tem is socialist
That's right folks, socialist.
We must consider the classical
definition of this failed theory,
which is centrally planning an
economy rather than allowing
the market to bloom naturally.
Any person with even brief
economic or political education
knows this is infeasible. Cube,
the former Soviet Union. Haiti,
the basebell monopoly and the
Clinton Health Care Plan ere all
examples of the sort of disasters
that can occur when market
interference is attempted
Earned money is freedom
This may not be moral end it
may not be pretty, but it's the
truth. When how we earn our
money and what we do with it is
decided for us, this freedom is
violated. Without exception,
such violation eventually leads
to both social and fiscal turmoil.
Democrats (the party of rich
bureaucrats) and Republicans
(the party of rich businessmen)
have both attempted to centrally
plan our economy through taxa
tion.
The YVal-Marting of the Amer
ican market, with its disturbing
trend of mergers, horizontal
integration, and large-scale dis- *■
count stores that was hastened*"
during the early 1980s. is not, as
some would attest, due to cons
petilive market forces.
Massive corporations such us
these have a much easier time
surviving thanks to our tax
codes The system, which both
parties have fashioned, favors
them rather than small business
es. mainly through excessive
entitlement taxes, which are
much more difficult for small
businesses to provide than large
ones
This is the most distressing <
thing about taxes Such policies
have shifted the economy from
where it belongs, "mom and
pop" providers, to massive con
glomerates.
Independent small businesses
formed the social and economic
backbone of the middle class in
America for years. As they
began to deteriorate due to unfa
vorable taxation, the amount of
working poor as a percentage of
the population began to
increase.
So, what should be done?
Taxation should be based upon
consumption rather tnan
income This will increase sav
ing and investment, and there
fore decrease the need for many
middle class entitlements. As a
consequence, the budget will be
smaller (Social Security it the
largest allotment) and less taxes
will be necessary
Also, cut, cut, cut the pork.
Cut it until it's gone. Every sin
gle program should face scruti
ny
The government does not
need any more of our money.
They simply need to spend it
more prudently.
No more excuses, no more
partisan bickering
Get the message to Washing
ton Any candidate who has
raised your taxes does not
deserve your vote. Period.
Primo A. J. Fontana is a colum
nist for the Emerald.