FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016
4 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Opinion / Local
— Guest Opinion —
Taxes, unions and
business
By Rep. Greg Barreto
A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with some
constituent members from one of the public sector
unions, along with the union lobbyist. These unions
want to understand how candidates running for po-
litical office line up with their ideology and legisla-
tive agenda. They sent me a questionnaire to fill
out and then in all fairness, gave me an interview.
Many of these are public sector unions are promot-
ing the $6-billion-dollar hidden sales tax called IP28
or now known as Ballot Measure 97. Many of you
have heard about this measure and, if you haven’t,
you should become educated. If it passes, many
Oregon businesses that can, will be moving out
of state. Ballot measure 97 is a 2.5% tax on total
sales instead of profits on larger corporations that
have gross sales of $25 million or more. This will
raise the cost of food, fuel, health care, cars, elec-
tricity and almost everything you purchase at big
box stores such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Costco,
Lowes, etc. and add considerably to an already high
cost of living in Oregon.
My objective in this letter is not to bash or at-
tack the public sector unions, but to show how they
contribute to the lack of fairness we have in our
electoral system. Public sector unions contribute an
enormous amount of money and in-kind assistance
to Democrat races and ballot measures throughout
Oregon. There are many hard working govern-
ment employees who, because they happen to be
employed by a federal, state or local government,
belong to these unions by no choice of their own.
They are not a part of this issue. They are forced to
join the unions simply because they have accepted a
government job, not because they necessarily desire
to be a member of a particular union.
This was the first question that was asked on a
union questionnaire:
“There are ongoing efforts to use the courts, the
ballot, or the legislature to limit the effectiveness
of worker’s voices by attacking unions.These at-
tacks can be limiting the ability for union members
to contribute to politics or they can be attempts to
force unions to provide services without fair com-
pensation.Will you oppose these efforts and support
worker’s rights to form unions and engage in the
political process as a collective group.”
My answer to the first question was a definite
“no”. I then went on to explain the difference and
the importance between the private sector and the
public sector. Many people, including our govern-
ment employees don’t understand this relationship.
So, I would like to explain as simply as I can how it
works.
The private sector is any business or employee of
a business that is not a part of the government. The
public sector is the government and those employees
of the government.
Private sector workers and businesses create and
produce all of the money that the public sector (gov-
ernment) collects in taxes and fees and then pro-
ceeds to spend. Perhaps the state might sell some
natural resources, but this revenue is minimal. The
money collected from the private sector by the state
is used to pay for government services, government
programs and government employee salaries and
benefits. The public sector fills an important part in
the operation of the state and the state’s services to
Oregonians. Employees of the state should receive
fair benefits and wages comparable to those in the
private sector and they should be well managed,
efficient, and valued according to their occupation
level and performance, just as in the private sector.
We need a certain amount of government to provide
services and most government employees I that I
know who help with that service are great folks who
are conscientious and hard working.
That being said, everyone who votes, works and
pays taxes in this state should have a clear under-
standing as to how revenue is created within the
state and how it is spent.
Again, public sector (government) and its employ-
ees produce no revenue. The money use to operate
the state is only derived from the private sector by
way of taxes and fees and this money covers the
expenses of the state.
Now, public sector (government) workers also pay
taxes, but because those taxes come from their pay-
checks and those paychecks originate from revenue
produced by the private sector taxes and fees, the
taxes that government employees pay are simply a
revolving fund that produces no revenue to operate
the government. If we logically follow this process
and apply it to public sector union dues, those union
dues, which amount to millions of dollars each year
that are taken from the public employee’s income,
are produced from private sector taxes. So, we see
that the private sector tax payers actually pay these
union dues. So then, when we look at how union
dues are spent, it becomes a cause for great concern.
Jil Gibson and James Huffman wrote in a brief
filed Sept. 11, 2015: “Since 2006 … Oregon teacher
unions have contributed over $4 million to political
candidates, and approximately 98 percent of that
amount has gone to Democratic candidates.”
100% of the SEIU political donations in 2016
nationwide have been donated to elect progressive
liberal candidates and progressive liberal agendas,
This week $1.5 million dollars was donated from
Oregon Education Association PAC and SEIU Lo-
cal 503 PAC to the “Yes on 97” tax on businesses.
An additional $650,000.00 has been donated by
unions to the “Defend Oregon” PAC, also to dedi-
cated to passing this $6-billion-dollar tax on Oregon
businesses.
To me, as a taxpayer in Oregon and as a Repub-
lican; I question the fairness of this process and to
that end have been a serious advocate for Oregon
to become a right to work state. Again, this has
nothing to do with the people employed by the state,
but has everything to do with a flawed system and
the influence in the political arena by public sector
unions. These unions, as is their purpose, simply
view things from one perspective, and that is: what
is the best deal they can cut to benefit their union
members and themselves? But if their demands
Toxic algae warning
for Brownlee, Snake
The Idaho Department
of Environmental Quality
(DEQ) has issued a Public
Health Alert warning of
a blue-green algae bloom
affecting public lands,
including those managed
by the Bureau of Land
Management’s (BLM) Vale
District in Oregon.
The blooms have oc-
curred along the Snake
River as well as in Brown-
lee Reservoir. According
to the Idaho DEQ Alert,
the affected portion of the
Snake River is 10 miles
north of Oxbow, Idaho to
the Hells Canyon Dam.
Public lands managed by
the BLM are also affected,
including developed recre-
ation sites at Westfall, Bob
Creek, Airstrip, and Cop-
per Creek. Anyone wishing
to recreate in or around the
affected bodies of water
should be aware of the
risks associated with blue-
green algae and should
know how to identify these
algal blooms.
According the Oregon
Health Authority, water
that is foamy, scummy,
thick, pea-green, blue-
green or brownish red
should be avoided.
The Idaho DEQ has
advised that areas af-
fected by blue-green algae
blooms should be avoided,
as drinking the water;
even direct skin contact
can cause severe illness in
humans and animals. The
following precautions have
been advised by the Idaho
DEQ:
• Humans, pets, and
livestock should not drink
the river water.
• Humans and animals
should stay out of the river.
Swimming, wading, or
other activities with full
body contact of river water
should be avoided.
• Fish should be cleaned
and rinsed with clean
water. Only the fillet por-
tion should be consumed.
All other parts should be
discarded.
• Pets and livestock are
vulnerable to blue-green
algae and should stay out
of water where blooms are
visible. Pets and live-
stock can be exposed to
blue-green algae through
drinking, swimming, or
self-grooming by licking
their wet coat or paws. A
reaction will likely require
immediate veterinary at-
tention.
• In addition, pets should
not be allowed to eat dried
algae.
• If river water contacts
skin or pet fur, wash with
clean potable water as soon
as possible.
• Areas of visible algae
accumulation should be
avoided.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and
Prevention, people who
are exposed to water with
high concentrations of
blue-green algae may ex-
perience nausea, vomiting,
diarrhea, difficulty breath-
ing, skin irritation, allergic
responses, liver damage, or
neurotoxic reactions such
as tingling fingers and toes.
Symptoms in humans
are rare, but anyone with
symptoms should seek
medical attention.
Boiling or filtering the
water will not remove
blue-green algae toxins.
cannot be
sustained by
the private
sector, then
the health
and the
well-being
of our state
will suffer.
This is easily
seen from our
flawed PERS
system which
is currently
strangling
Submitted Photo
Rep.
Greg
Barreto
of
Cove
is an
our state
American
businessman
and
politi-
budget with
cian.
He
represents
House
District
$22 to $40
58 in northeastern Oregon.
billion in
unfunded
liabilities.
Now, if we compare the public and private sector
in the state to a simple business, the public sector
(government) acts as the administrative or over-
head costs of a business. When the overhead costs
become so high that the income from the service or
product a company produces is not able to create
enough income to afford the cost of the overhead,
the company loses money. If this is not corrected
and reversed in a timely fashion, the company will
go insolvent and collapse. The inefficiency and
wasted money spent by this state, along with our
PERS unfunded liability, is taking Oregon to that
end. To see that we don’t have the income to meet
the expenses is fairly simple. Decisions on how to
deal with it can be argued, but one solution being
pushed by the public sector unions in IP28 or now
what is known as Ballot Measure 97 is not viable.
When we take a look at the economic predictions
from the independent Legislative Revenue Office
(LRO) on Ballot Measure 97, this $6-billion-dollar
gross receipts tax (or hidden sales tax) is projected
to create 18,000 new public sector jobs while at the
same time, losing 38,000 private sector jobs. This is
insanity. The private sector, public sector relation-
ship must be sustainable. If not, businesses will
leave this state and move to another state that offers
better opportunities. And there are plenty of states
wooing them. This leaves the businesses and people
who stay in Oregon to make up the difference from
those who left. If this ballot measure passes, Or-
egon becomes a huge loser. The originators of this
ballot measure are from the progressive left and it is
being driven and funded by the public sector unions.
This is a perfect example of seeing things from only
one selfish and foolish perspective and once again
demonizing business. A one sided perspective that
if passed will produce a reckless and catastrophic
outcome for the state of Oregon. In biology 101, I
learned that a good parasite keeps its host alive. I’m
not sure the public sector unions and progressives
understand this principle.
I hope the people of Oregon get educated and vote
intelligently.
Thank you and God bless you.
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