N ews
2 • T he C lackamas P rint
J anuary 28, 2004
^■Loas.
Tax hike faces voters on Feb. 3
Frank Jordan
T he C lackamas P rint
Oregon voters will get a chance
next week to vote on another tax
increase proposed by the Oregon
Legislature in the form of Ballot
Measure 30, which, if passed,
would add a surcharge onto person
al income taxes for the next three
years.
The Oregon Legislature hashed
out a plan that would raise approxi
mately $800 million in new revenue
during last year’s session. The legis
lature struggled during the session
in the wake of ever-decreasing rev
enues to balance the 2001-03 budg
et. After making sufficient cuts to
balance that budget, lawmakers
faced à dire situation when it came
to the 2003-05 budget.
Revenues continued to plummet
and the legislature saved about $1
billion through freezing salaries and
other budget cuts. The legislature
was in a stalemate, however, when it
came to finding revenue sources to
make up the shortfall. In the end, a
group of moderate Republicans
rebelled against their party leader
ship and joined state Democrats to
pass a package of tax increases.
Shortly thereafter, opponents
went out and gathered twice the
required number of valid signatures
to place the tax package before vot
ers on the Feb. 3 ballot.
Measure 30 supporters say that
schools and state services will suffer
greatly if the measure fails. Failure
could mean even more students per
classroom and the threat of anoth
er shortened school year at the K-
12 level. Thousands of working
poor could lose benefits under the
/
Oregon Health Plan, and low-level
criminals may not be prosecuted
due to overloaded courts.
/
Measure 30 opponents say that
the sheer size of the tax increase is
outrageous and excessivpf Oregon
voters have a history of voting
down tax increases and the short
time that it took signature gatherers
to collect enough signatures- only
proves that point.
Higher taxes, opponents say, will
have a negative impact on how the
state can climb out of its- current
economic downturn. Even though
the income tax increase is tempo
rary, many of the corporate tax
changes are permanent and this
could adversely affect how business
is conducted in the state.
The temporary tax changes
include a graduated income tax
assessment for the next three years
based on how much money a per
son makes, ranging from a 1 per
cent assessment on incomes
between $10,000 and $19,999 to a 9
percent assessment for those who
make $120,000 or more Measure
30 would also extend cigarette tax
of $0.10 per pack until Jan. 1,2006,
as well as defer 20 percent of cer
tain corporate tax credits until 2006
and reduce deductions for divi
dends received by corporations
from 70 percent to 35 percent until
2006.
The permanent tax changes
include the following: altering the
age in which seniors can take their
medical expense deductions and
reducing the percentage of those
deductions that a person can take;
eliminating deductions for certain
types of business vehicles; increas
ing the minimum tax on corpora-
(D
o
co
O
O
AZZ reports are taken
from CCC’s campus
safety incident logs.
Summaries are edited for
clarity, not content
1-21-04
9:08 p.m.
Auto theft reported by
Russian speaking person,
called CCOM for inter
preter.
1-21-04
10:06 p.m.
Oregon City officer on site,
used telephone to assist for
information for theft on a
black Nissan Pathfinder
from Barlow Parking lot.
1-22-04
8:55 a.m.
Staff reported backpack
stolen from bookstore.
1-22-04"
CORY PRICE C lackamas P rint
dons from $10 to between $250
and $5,000, depending On sales; and
reducing the discount that property
owners can get by paying their
property taxes early.
If Measure 30 fails at the ballot
box next week, state law requires
10:20 a.m.
that $544.6 million in budget cuts
be enacted for the 2003-05 budget
biennium. Those cuts will include
$298.9 million for education, $187.6
million for healthcare and human
services and $58.1 million for pub
lic safety services.
White male adult reported
his vehicle was almost hit
twice by speeding vehicles.
Speech and Debate team brings home 21 awards at tournament
Shannon Armstead
T he C lackamas P rint
The Clackamas Speech team
brought home 21 awards and placed
first in community colleges and sec
ond out of two and four-year colleges
combined, in their first tournament
of the term last weekend.
The team suited up as they joined
12 other colleges and universities
form Oregon and Washington, pre
pared to make their best impressions
while debating current events and
delivering their speeches with flare.
Clackamas students expressed
their excitement for performing their
speaking events after a long winter
break.
“I love debating, and I love giving
speeches,” said Clackamas team
member Alisa Poul.
Poul had the opportunity to
exhibit her communication skills, tak
ing home two first place awards for
her dramatic and persuasive speeches.
“This was the first time I had
given my dramatic, and my persuasive
is close to home because it is about
the environment, so I was excited to
receive awards for both [these
events],” said Poul.
Emily McCoy and Mathew Blythe
of Clackamas won second place for
their duo speech after performing it
for the first time at the tournament.
Standing next to each other and look
ing in opposite directions, they put
emotion and humor into their inter
pretation of an intelligent intern
looking for a job from a lazy politi
cian.
John Westray won first place in
novice extemporaneous speaking, an
event that gives the speaker 30 min
utes to prepare a speech on a given
current event.
“Extemporaneous speaking is fun
and interesting because it gives you
the opportunity to state your opinion
in a credible manner,” said Westray.
Some students, however, are
forced to argue against their own
opinions or lose the round.
“During one of our [debate]
rounds, our opponents said they
could not refute the arguments [my
partner and I] gave because they
agreed with them, they then went'on
to argue it anyway. I think we won by
default,” said first time debater
Kamie Thrall.
Clackamas Speech and Debate
Coaches Kelly Brennan and Chris
Edwards were largely.responsible for
making the PSU tournament possible.
According to Brennan, the
PSU speech and debate team is com
pletely student-run and PSU students
would have been unable to run a
tournament without the help of pro
fessionals.
PSU students called
Edwards to see if he and Brennan
were available.
“Our coaches made it happen,”
said Thrall.
“Everything went smoothly and
we expect to see even more schools
take part in [the PSU] tournament
next year,” said Brennan.
Contraception and General Women’s Care
Women’s
Health
Center
of
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Team member John Westray
won first place in novice
extemporaneous speaking.
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