The Southwest Portland Post., July 01, 2017, Page 4, Image 4

4 • The Southwest Portland Post
NEWS
July 2017
State representatives provide overview of education funding legislation
By Jack Rubinger
The Southwest Portland Post
The Revenue Reform and Education
Stability Act of 2017 is the result
of months of compromise and
collaboration between leaders in
the Oregon House and Senate, with
input from the business and labor
communities.
An overview of the bill was provided
by state representatives from the
Southwest area at Wilson High School
in June, including Margaret Doherty
(D-35 Tigard), House Majority Leader
Jennifer Williamson (D-36 Portland),
Ann Lininger (D-38 Lake Oswego)
and Mitch Greenlick D-33 Portland).
It was designed to raise $850 million
for schools and critical services in this
budget cycle, scaling up to $1.654
billion in 2023-25.
A minimum of 75 percent of
these funds would be dedicated to
education, from early learning through
college.
According to Rep. Lininger, “The
legislature has many obligations to
meet, both moral and contractual, that
are part of our state’s ongoing budget
costs.
“We need to reform our revenue
system, make targeted spending cuts,
and reduce the cost of delivering
critical services,” said Lininger.
“This balanced approach will
stabilize the budget for the long-
term and allows us to make strategic
investments in education.”
Rep. Mitch Greenlick
Rep. Margaret Doherty
In order to give businesses time to
adjust to a new tax structure, this act
would utilize the existing corporate
income tax until 2019, when it would
be replaced with a simpler, updated
Commercial Activity Tax.
The Act applies a new Commercial
Activity Tax of a fraction of one percent
on business sales above $3 million.
Businesses with less than $3 million in
sales would pay just a flat $250.
The Act would provide hundreds
of millions of dollars in tax relief for
low- and middle-income households.
The Act proposes to reduce costs in
the following ways:
• By holding supply and service
costs flat and rejecting inflationary
increases and placing proposed new
hiring decisions under close scrutiny.
• By eliminating health care
redundancies and implementing and
price controls.
• By focusing resources on the most
Rep. Jennifer Williamson
Rep. Ann Lininger
serious crimes and policies proven to
reduce repeat offenders.
The goal is $400 million in cost
containment and $250 million in
targeted costs in 2017 - 2019.
State representatives believe now
is the time to invest in education, to
commit revenue generated through
business tax reform to education.
Legislators are seeking to design a
guarantee to ensure that commitment
continues through long-term cost
containment and more predictable
business tax revenue to get citizens
out of the boom and bust budgeting
of the last 20 years.
Regarding the current budget
shortfall, there are both short- and
long-term factors which have been in
play in Oregon.
Short term factors include Medicaid
expansion and declining federal funds
for healthcare ($800+ million), 2016
voter-enacted ballot measures ($357
million), and increased pension costs
($354 million).
Long term factors include voter-
approved property tax measures,
Public Employee Retirement System
costs, as well as an unstable and
outdated revenue structure.
According the Oregon Department
of Revenue, Oregon relies more on
personal income taxes than any other
state, meaning working Oregonians
pay for essential services more than
anywhere else.
This creates difficult revenue
instability during hard times.
Meanwhile, Oregon has one of the
lowest corporate tax burdens in the
U.S.
Representatives said there are
similar models in Washington and
Ohio.
Rick Miller from Avamere is one
business leader who supports the
proposal.
According to Rep. Williamson,
“This model hits the sweet spot and
drives the economy. The idea is to
spread the impact across more kinds
of businesses,” she said.
“This will stabilize swings in
budget and deal with cycles that are
unsustainable.”
Rep. Greenlick said, “We encourage
people to inform themselves and
talk to business colleagues. Getting
business onboard is an important
issue. We really care about what
business thinks.”
Rep. Doherty said, “We’re asking
folks in the community to call their
senators to get their support. We need
a hard push to get to the 36th vote and
then continue to apply pressure where
the most pressure is needed.”
Representatives encouraged people
to sign up as a supporter at www.
investineducationor.com and to talk to
small business owners in the community.
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