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Street roots
O ct 12, 2012
Measuring up
Street Roots weighs in on relevant local and state measures before voters this year. A ll conclusions were reached by a concensus o f Street
Roots sta ff volunteers and vendors, with consideration on how the laws will affect people experiencing poverty
Casinos
Fire, police retirement
26-143: Create a Multnomah County
Library District with permanent rate to
fund library services.
This measure seeks to create a taxing
district specifically to fund the
Multnomah County library system. If
approved, the district levy would be a
rate of $1.22 per $1,000 of assessed
value. Currently the libraries are funded
through renewable levies.
Y©S
Libraries are one of the
last resources for public
O N o knowledge, research and
cultural enrichment that
are universally accessible to the public,
regardless of income, stature or
resources. But such an asset does not
come without the community’s
investment.
This measure will also replace the
patchwork levy process that exists now.
It will dedicate funding for this valuable
resource, freeing up other dollars for
social services for families experiencing
homelessness and poverty.
26-144: Portland Public School
District Bonds to Improve Schools -
Portland School District
This measure seeks to issue a bond in
the amount of $482 million in order to
help pay for three new high schools in
the district as well as general
improvement and renovation projects as
needed. If approved, a levy addition of
$1.10 per $1,000 of assessed value
would be implemented in the district to
pay for the bond.
Our schools need our
help, but let’s face it, the
improvement proposal
floated in the spring was
too much and too haphazard to galvanize
real support from the community at
large. This proposal brings it more down
to size, with public involvement and a
more equal distribution of assistance for
long-neglected facilities. Education is so
critical for the wellbeing of future
Portlanders, and we hold a responsibility
to getting all students on an level course
toward success.
Restore schoo! arts
26-146: Restore School Arts, Music
Education; Fund Arts through Limited
Tax: City of Portland
This measure seeks to implement a
tax set at a rate of $35 per person living
in the city. The tax would apply to any
resident over the age of 18 who earns
money and is above the federal poverty
line.
Vpe
C —} llu
Nn
Art is everywhere in
Portland. It’s at the core of
our c^ty s PersonalitT But
Qur core institutions,
particularly for children and the poor,
art is either nonexistent or out of
financial and social reach. The benefits
of arts training — on math skills,
cognitive processing and simply our joie
de vie - are well documented. For $35
per person, we can fund not only public
school programs but also programs
generating community involvement
among people who are social and
economically marginalized.
There are caveats, to be sure, and the
administration of this new tax has to
ensure that it does not become a burden
to the very people it is intended to help.
26-145: Amends Charter: Changes
provisions of the city’s fire police
disability retirement system
If approved, this measure would
amend the Portland City Charter,
changing the Fire and Police Disability
Retirement System. These changes
would include clarifying the calculation
of benefits, no longer including service
by another employer for calculation of
service credit, defining service
requirements for disability, altering
benefits for part-time employees and
changing the vesting period for non
service related death benefits from 10
years to 5 years. The estimated total
savings from all the changes is
approximately $46.6 million over 25
years.
i YOS
The last line says a lot.
The majority of the
O N o savings come in curbing
the manipulation of final-
year income measures, meaning - like
the rest of us — benefits are based on
the actual final year of pay. And it shifts
payments for injuries incurred during
probationary periods to the Oregon
workers compensation program. We
want our firefighters and police taken
care of in the event of a disability, and
this measure lets us continue to do the
right thing without expensive
loopholes.
Measures 82 and 83: Amends
Constitution: Authorizes establishment
of privately owned casinos; mandates
percentage of revenues payable to
dedicated state fund.
Currently, Oregon Constitution
prohibits the operation of any casino
within state (Outside of tribal
ownership). Under this measure, the
state lottery shall permit the operation
of privately owned casinos within the
state, provided that the particular
operation is approved through initiative
law. If the privately owned casino is to
be located within an incorporated city,
city electors must also approve casino
location. The privately-owned casino
shall pay 25 percent of adjusted gross
revenues each month to a hind created
by law for the purposes of fostering job
growth, educational achievement,
vibrant local communities, protecting
and improving natural environment,
and supporting all federally recognized
Indian tribes in Oregon.
Indeed, gambling can
be fun, and there’s
nothing wrong with that.
But there is a reason that
vice is best kept in check. The
proliferation of gambling centers is a
regressive model for extracting tax
dollars from middle- and low-income
Oregonians. This is a service no one is
clamoring for, so it is being sold as a
jobs package with a bonus pay-off for
the state. In exchange, we get low-wage
service sector positions and millions of
dollars siphoned out of Oregon’s
economy. Oh, and a constitution that
now says we’re OK with that, so
everybody join in!
Oregon has its share of gambling
facilities, and we have a practical
system in place to keep this vice under
some measure of control. We cannot
afford to expand this poor man’s taxing
industry further in our state.
O Yes
•N o
Inheritance tax
84: Phases out existing inheritance
taxes on large estates, and all taxes on
intra-family property transfers
Summary: Current state law imposes
one-time tax on estate of person dying
on/after January 1, 2006, if estate’s
gross value — determined by federal law
as of December 31, 2000 - is at least
$1,000,000. Current law taxes income-
producing property sales, regardless of
parties’ relationship.
C—> Y a q
B you inherit an estate
worth $1 million or more,
you have acquired a
No measure of great wealth
and you should pay taxes on it. The
argument of double taxation, that
opponents of estate taxes often use,
holds no water here. Value and wealth
change hands every day, for the
advancement of many, and property is
no exception. Moreover, property can
accrue “unrealized” capital that is never
taxed unless it is sold. Taxes are the
responsibility of every citizen of means
to support the local and national
wellbeing, including feeding the hungry
and educating our children. We can’t
afford to write in yet another loophole
for the wealthy to skirt that
responsibility.
80: Allows personal marijuana, hemp
cultivation/use without license;
commission to regulate commercial
marijuana cultivation/sale
Summary: Currently, marijuana
cultivation, possession and delivery are
prohibited; regulated medical
marijuana use permitted. Measure
replaces state, local marijuana laws
except medical marijuana and driving
under the influence laws; distinguishes
"hemp” from “marijuana”; prohibits
regulation of hemp. Creates
commission to license marijuana
cultivation by qualified persons and to
purchase entire crop.
Y gs
^ rae ^ regon
pushed the envelope on
O N o the issue of hemp
production, marijuana use
and government oversight, and this bill
will do just that, It’s far from a panacea
on the nonsense of our war on drugs.
But it is a starting point that can draw
out new ideas on the matter of
managing a long-distorted crop that has
potential in many markets.
79: Amends Constitution: Prohibits
real estate transfer taxes, fees, other
assessments, except those operative
on December 31, 2009
Summary: Current statutory law
prohibits a city, county, district, or
other political subdivision or municipal
corporation from imposing taxes or
fees on the transfer of real estate (with
certain exceptions). However, the state
legislature has the authority, subject to
Governor approval, to impose such
taxes and fees or to change current
statutory law.
O Yes
We do not want a
private, national trade
• N o organization spending
hundreds of thousands of
dollars in our state to rewrite our
constitution under the fog of false
necessity. We have a statewide ban on
real estate transfer taxes. We have a
system that allows for the people of
Oregon, our elected officials and due
public process to both keep it that way
and reserve the right to consider our
options for the future.
Likewise, real estate transfer fees
are not the taxation boogie men they
have been made out to be. They can be
constructed to provide relief to first
time homebuyers, lower-priced homes
and long-term homeowners. And they
can be directed to support real
community needs, right here in
Oregon, in ways that benefits all
residents.
This measure isn’t something
Oregon wants or needs.
85: Amends Constitution: Allocates
refund to additionally fund K through
12 public education
Summary: Before each biennium,
the governor must prepare an estimate
of revenues expected to be received by
the General Fund for the next
biennium. The General Fund is the
primary funding source for schools,
prisons, social services other state-
funded programs/services. Current law
requires an automatic “kicker” refund
of corporate income and excise tax
revenue when that revenue exceeds
estimated collections by two percent or
more. Measure allocates the corporate
income and excise tax “kicker” refund
to the General Fund to provide
additional funding for K through 12
public education. Measure does not
change the constitutional personal
income tax “kicker” provision.
Measure 85 will not
solve the state’s education
funding issues — the
O N o state’s tax system is
broken far beyond one or two simple
repairs. This measure is hopefully the
first of many to begin working on fixing
that system — something that the
leadership in Salem has be unable or
unwilling to do.
Street Roots supports the passage of
Measure 85, not because we think it
will fix the broken tax system and result
in proper funding for education. We
support the passage of this measure as
a first step in tackling a seriously
broken tax system. It is our hope that
with the passage of Measure 85 many
more steps will be taken to ensure that
education, social services and other
things that we count on the state to
provide are properly funded.
Yes