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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1996)
s MONDAY: Opinion TUESDAY: Politics WEDNESDAY: Opinion THURSDAY: Politics FRIDAY: Opinion a voter’s guide to the 1996 election and life on the campaign trail BY MAIL: P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 BY PHONE: (541)346-5511 BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU ISSUE: WELFARE h 1 u tj UU il) Question: Under the new welfare law, should all welfare recipients willing to work be guaranteed a job, training or other assistance from government if they cannot find employment covering basic living costs? "We have a moral obligation to make sure the people who are be ing required to work have the opportunity to work. We must make sure the jobs are there. There should be one million new jobs for welfare recipients by the year 2000. States under this law can now take the money that was spent on the welfare check and use it to help businesses to provide paychecks. I challenge every state to do it soon." —President Bill Clinton, Democratic candidate "This legislation pro vides states with strong financial'incen tives to help welfare re cipients get jobs or get the training they need fora well-paying job. This legislation also helps eliminate one of the biggest barriers for women who want to go to work—lack of child care — by pro viding almost $14 billion for child care pro grams. Additionally [It] contains a safety net that allows states to exempt 20 percent of their caseload—the hardship cases — from the time limits." —Bob Dole, Republican candidate "Our government must help welfare re cipients receive the tools they need to be come productive tax payers. " —Ross Perot, Re form Party candidate —The Associated Press The Oregon Daily Emerald Is published daily Monday through Fri day during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene. Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emerald operates independently of the University with of fices at Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union The Emerald is private property The unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law Editor-in-Chief: Steven Asbury Managing Editor Jennifer Carter Night Editor Jennifer Schmitt Community: Jennifer Schmitt, editor Jean Bond. Christian Hill Entertainment: Nicole Kreuger, editor Jesse Stephenson Higher Education: Tamyra Howser. in-depth Laura Cadiz. Benjamin Kwasney Opinion: Ashley Bach, editor Chris Hutchinson, illustrator Brian Diamond, Larry Haftl. Sonja Sherwood Politics: Shana Cohn, editor. Doug Irving Student Activities: Kristin Bailey, editor Angie Suchy, Tom Potter Sports: Mark McTyre. editor Andrea DeYoung, assistant editor Chns Hansen. Ryan Frank. Ryan Hah/orsen Copy Desk: Thom Schoenborn. copy chief Sarah Kickler, Mike Schmierbach. Kendra Smith Presentation: Dennis Bolt, editor Matt Garton Photography: Mathew Stiffier editor Andrew Brackensick. Joe Bumk. Amanda Erickson. Shannon Kilduff. Chad Patteson Freelance: Lara Pittman, editor On-Line: Nicholas Stiffier General Manager. Judy Riedl Advertising Becky Merchant, director. Anne Amador. Lee Yen Beh, Marco Chmg, Yujin Chi. Matt Johnson. Anne Miller. Trma Sha naman. Rose Soil, Matt Solomon. Greg Walsh Classified: Tara Sloan, manager Natasha Lumpkin. Debbie Levy. Heather Moye Production: Michele Ross, manager. Ingrid White, coordinator. Shawna Abele, Laura Daniel. Trevor Kearney,Tara Knight. Melissa LeBahn. Molly McCanta, Allison Stormo, Mike Young Business: Kathy Carbone, supervisor. Judy Connolly Distribution: John Long Jeff Johnson. Ferenc Rakoczi Newsroom.(541)346-5511 Display Advertising.(541)346-3712 Business Office.(541)346-5512 Sponsor defends Measure 47 By Shana Cohn Politics Editor Bill Sizemore, the author of Measure 47, says schools wouldn’t suffer if the measure passed. The leader of Oregon Taxpayers United was recently in terviewed about how schools and other services could be funded with a significant loss of property tax revenues. The Legislative Revenue Office says under Measure 47, schools would lose an estimat ed $181 million in 1997-98, depending on the re sponse of lawmakers. ISSUE: School Fundim School funding has grown faster than the rate of infla tion during the Measure 5 years, according to the OTU. Measure 5, which limited property taxes, passed in 1990. QOTU says Measure 47 could also be enacted with ■ out any cuts to schools and other essential ser vices. How would this work? A The legislature has to do one more time what they a have done five years in a row with Measure 5. Take 100 percent of property tax reductions out of schools and backfill them with state income and lottery dollars. And take no cuts in local government, so local governments will have no reduction in property tax revenues. After one more year of Measure 5 is phased in, Measure 47 can be imple mented with no loss to schools or local government. ISSUE: Prisons QWhat about the increased money that will need to ■ come from the state general fund for the construc tion of prisons? A Fortunately the general fund is growing 20 percent or ■ more per biennium. We have a window of opportuni ty to implement Measure 47 without cuts. We couldn't do that without a robust economy. ISSUE: Taxes Q Why does Measure 47 target property taxes? A Property taxes are the most unfair tax in our overall ■ system. They tax people without regard to ability to pay. This year, property taxes are going up four to six times the rate of inflation. That’s a system that demands fixing. BILL SIZEMORE jJJMM ijj O) Jjj ISSUE: Benefits Q Who will benefit from Measure 47? A Homeowners. Commercial properties will only in ■ crease in value 2 to 3 percent a year, and will see little benefit from the measure. Residential property values are increasing 10 to 20 percent per year, and [owners] will greatly benefit from the 3 percent cap. [For the years fol lowing 1997-98, property taxes are limited to no more than 3 percent per year under the measure]. There’s no way that the measure can benefit commercial property owners at the expense of homeowners. Q Who benefited from Measure 5? A Every property owner in Oregon. A lot of homeown ■ ers ignore what their property taxes would be today if Measure 5 was not in place. But most reductions went to commercial owners, which happened as a function of the real estate market. ISSUE: Local Control QWhat is the biggest misconception about Measure .47? A That it will hurt local control. The local control argu ■ ment is a base less scare tactic to divert voters atten tion away from property taxes. Measure 47, if anything, protects local control. It says that if any cuts are necessary, the losses have to be minimized. The measure mandates prioritizing public safety and education [when replacing lost revenue from property taxes]. ISSUE: Econom QHow would the measure affect the Oregon econo »my? A I believe a lot of the credit for Oregon's vibrant econo ■ my can be traced to Measure 5. It has left more than $3 billion in the hands of taxpayers, with which they have purchased goods and services from Oregon businesses. Our philosophy is that reducing taxes stimulates econom ic expansion. It increases both the standard of living of citi zens and revenues for government. MEASURE 47 ■ WHAT IT DOES: Limits the amount of property taxes that can be collected. Would roll back taxes to their 1994 95 level or cut them to 10 percent less than the j 1995-96 level, whichever i is smaller. Future tax rate j growth would be limited to 3 percent per year, with exceptions. Would limit revenue available to schools and other local services funded by prop erty taxes. That revenue could only be replaced by state income taxes, unless voters approve replacement fees or charges. Revenue reduc tions would be allocated in a way that makes pub lic safety and education a i priority. Property must be assessed at real mar ket value. ■ ARGUMENTS FOR: Prevents property taxes from skyrocketing in the future. Lost revenue to schools and services could be made up with lottery funds or income taxes. Without this mea sure, the state’s excess property taxes could go to increased state bu reaucracy. ■ ARGUMENTS AGAINST: Local govern ments and schools could lose up to $467 million together in 1997-98, and more than that in future years. The measure pro vides no means for re placing lost revenue. Hurts local control and eliminates the ability of communities to decide what level of services they want. A look at some of the 23 ballot measures in the November 5 election THE MEASURE WHAT IT WOULD DO Amends the Oregon Constitution to repeal cer tain residency requirements for state veteran loans. The Constitution currently requires that people seeking home or farm loans were Oregon residents when they entered military service or have resided here for five years since their dis charge. The measure would leave other eligibility requirements intact. ARGUMENTS FOR Would allow the Oregon Veteran Home Loan Program to follow a Supreme Court ruling that found such residency requirements un fairly discriminates against service people who similarly served. ARGUMENTS AGAINST Forces the state to provide home and farm loans to veter ans who were not residents of the state. THE MEASURE WHAT IT WOULD DO Amends the state constitution. Under the cur rent system, a law requires a majority vote of those voting to be passed. Under the measure, a law would require a majority of registered voters to be passed. A registered voter who does not vote is therefore counted as a "no” vote. The measure would also apply to taxing issues and issuance of bonds. ARGUMENTS FOR Would prevent a minority of Ore gonians from passing laws and raising taxes that the majority would then have to abide by. Will effectively safeguard against small groups of voters levying taxes on the entire state. ARGUMENTS AGAINST Would make it almost im possible to raise revenue for schools and other state and lo cal government needs. Some one who does not vote would unfairly cancel out someone who took the time to cast a “yes” vote. SOURCES: The National Coalition tor PoOtic Lands and Natural Resources. Oregon State Public Interest Research Group. Americans for the Environment. Cascade Business News
