Taxes
continued from page 1
with the largest tax breaks going to
Oregon’s wealthiest individual and
corporate taxpayers.
Measure 8 would prohibit state
spending from outpacing increases
in Oregonians’ incomes. If the
measure passes, the state would be
allowed to spend no more than 15
percent of the state’s personal in
come. The state currently spends
about 18 percent of personal in
come, meaning the measure would
trim the projected 2001-2003 state
budget by $5.7 billion.
“We’re concerned about all of the
measures,” said Oregon University
System spokesman Bob Bruce, “but
Measures 91 and 8 would have a
significant fiscal impact, not only
on the university system but also
on the entire state.”
Bruce said the impact on the uni
versity system would be the equiv
alent of losing funding for the
state’s four regional universities
and one of its three major ones.
“That major of a change would
make Oregon public universities
less affordable, less accessible and
certainly less cost-effective,” Bruce
said. “It’s unthinkable.”
But supporters of the measures
argue that the tax reforms wouldn’t
constitute a cut in funding, but
rather an overdue cessation of in
creased spending.
“Governments want to grow as
fast as they can — they want to
spend every dime they get their
hands on,” said Don Mclntire, au
thor of Measure 8. “When govern
ment increases spending faster than
the economy rises, that’s a recipe
for disaster.”
Mclntire, who also wrote the
1992 Ballot Measure 5, which
sliced property taxes, said giving
the state a spending limit is the best
way to instill fiscal discipline in
government without forcing the
Legislature to cut programs.
“Measure 8 would establish the
state budget on citizens’ ability to
pay rather than on a state’s ability to
spend,” he said. “We will cut out
no services. What we will do is fi
nally force our Legislature to do the
right thing. To cut costs and give
taxpayers more bang for the buck.”
Measure 91, on the other hand,
seeks to scale back government by
reforming the state’s income rather
than expenditure.
The Oregon Voters Pamphlet
states that it is unclear when Mea
sure 91 would go into effect. If the
measure applies to the 2000 tax
year, state income would be re
duced by $870 million this year. Af
ter the 2001-2002 tax year, state rev
enue would be cut by about a $1
billion each year.
But taxpayers must make
$81,000 a year to benefit from the
tax break, and those making less
would actually lose money in the
first few years after the measure’s
passage, according to a Legislative
Revenue Office report.
Every biennium, the Legislature
returns the state’s surplus, called a
“kicker,” to taxpayers if tax collec
tions exceeded projections by at
least 2 percent. The tax cut Measure
91 proposes would wipe out that
surplus, which constitutes $282
million for personal taxpayers and
$34 million for corporations, ac
cording to the report.
Those making more than $81,000
a year, however, would receive a
large enough tax cut to offset the
lost kicker revenue.
For this reason, opponents of the
measure have called it a regressive
tax cut.
“It takes the notion of progressive
taxation and turns it over onto its
head,” Coney said.
Becky Miller of Oregon Taxpay
ers United doesn’t consider that
claim a criticism, however.
“I don’t believe in progressive
taxation,” she said. “Progressive
taxation ends up rewarding people
for not achieving because they can
kick back and get an easy ride.”
A more regressive tax system
would reward the industrious and
create opportunities for the unem
ployed, Miller said.
“When people get a tax cut, they
invest it, they buy more and they
make more jobs for the middle
class,” she said. “It’s pretty obvious
when people have more money in
their pockets, they spend more
money and give it back to the econ
omy.”
A recent poll conducted bv The
Oregonian and KATU-TV in Port
land found that 54 percent of Ore
gon voters support Measure 91 and
41 percent oppose it. About 40 per
cent of Oregonians supported Mea
sure 8 and 46 percent were in oppo
sition.
Planning
continued from page 3
“The initial cost of implement
ing these guidelines may be high
er, but the long-term savings are
going to offset that,” he said,
adding that increased efficiency in
energy use will be the primary rea
son for those savings.
Committee members raised and
addressed several concerns about
how to implement the plan effec
tively. One concern is a question of
changing attitudes — getting peo
ple to think environmentally by
default, rather than by force.
“The goal is to ask ‘How can we
become more sustainable?’ rather
than ‘How sustainable have we be
come?’,” said Christine Thomp
son, a planning associate with the
University Planning Office and a
CPC member.
Another major concern is sim
ply bringing attention to the plan.
Carole Daly, regional director for
the University development in
southern California and a CPC
member, said there is a general
lack of awareness.
“It’s not that people don’t want
to comply,” she said. “They just
don’t know that the policies exist.”
Giving the development pattern
some “teeth” by making its guide
lines enforceable may present the
biggest challenge to the plan’s suc
cess. Ambiguous wording in the
developmental pattern was revised
at the meeting and replaced with
more specific language, and the
committee discussed a system of
incentives for those who strive to
comply with the new standards.
Additionally, new construction
projects on campus will be held to
national sustainability standards
set forth by the U.S. Green Build
ing Council.
The planning commission also
approved a letter to University
President Dave Frohnmayer re
questing funding for a new admin
istrative staff position — a manag
er who would work with
architects, faculty, user groups and
all others involved in developmen
tal projects on campus to ensure
development pattern compliance.
“We need someone who can run
in all the different circles on cam
pus,” said Livelybrooks.
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