PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 2, 2015
KeizerOpinion
KEIZERTIMES.COM
KNOW thanks
community
To the Editor:
Keizer Network of Women wants
to extend a grateful thanks to all who
attended our Diva! Ladies’ Night,
making it one of our best yet. We ap-
preciate all the businesses and mem-
bers of the community who made
donations for prizes and gift bas-
kets—we couldn’t do it without you.
We will work diligently to support
those less fortunate and we will do it
because of you. Thank you.
Audrey Butler
Keizer Network of Women
Voting no on the
payroll tax
To the Editor:
I am opposed to ballot measure
24-388 (employer payroll tax) for the
following reasons:
(1) This is yet another transfer
of wealth from one group (business
owners) to another (transit riders)
based on a perceived need. Redistri-
bution of wealth is anti-capitalist, and
takes away from a society’s ability to
grow.
(2) As I have witnessed fi rst-hand
with ObamaCare, this tax will have
a very real impact on business. Em-
ployers will make a choice: a.) re-
duce hours and/or scale back wage
increases to employees in order to
reduce their tax burden, or b.) pass
along the increased costs to consum-
ers.
(3) We already support transit with
our property taxes. It seems wrong to
take money from two pockets of the
same income earner.
(4) According to their website,
Cherriots ridership is declining.
Should we all pay more because few-
er people use the system?
Join me in voting no on M24-388.
Brandon Smith
Keizer
Unfair employer tax
To the Editor:
My career in construction began
in 1990 when I fi nished schooling
for my trade. Fourteen years ago,
with my tool belt and a credit card
with a $5,000 limit I started my busi-
ness. Over the years, through hard
work, relentless tenacity and a desire
to see my community a better place
to live, I have built a company that
has the ability to give to local chari-
ties. This of course is in addition to
the salaries and benefi ts paid to my
employees.
All the time ensuring that the
hand that feeds us, our customers
receive the service and end product
we promise. On time, in budget and
to their liking; I understand without
customers there is no business, no
employees, and no way to give back
to the community I call home.
The value of a customer base falls
fl at on the board
of directors of
the Salem Keiz-
er Transit Dis-
trict. In their
arrogant wisdom
they have de-
cided to levy an employer payroll tax
on the hands that provide jobs and
the revenue for government services
in this town. As a business owner I
pay a portion of the over $10 million
the transit district receives in prop-
erty taxes. Now they want business
owners to pay an additional $5 mil-
lion in taxes.
If this measure passes my business
will pay more than $3,000 the fi rst
year in taxes, and this amount could
double without a single popular vote
being cast. Add this to the new sick
leave act and potential higher mini-
mum wage; it curtails adding equip-
ment, staff or charitable giving. These
are the very things that make our
community stronger and vibrant.
Not only will the transit board
have the ability to double this tax in
the next 10 years without a popular
vote, as a resident outside of the ur-
ban growth boundary I will be unable
to vote against this employer payroll
tax. There are about 200,000 eligible
voters in this election. They will de-
termine if approximately 5,600 small
business owners and 19,700 self-em-
ployed people will pay an additional
$5 million in taxes. This is simply
unfair.
Our local economy is showing
signs of growth. However, business
in the wake of the 2008 fi nancial
crisis fundamentally changed. Access
to capital, market uncertainty and
growing government regulations has
slowed growth and expansion. One
more tax will limit our business even
more, slow hiring, raise costs and cer-
tainly limit if not delete charitable
giving from the budget. I ask you to
vote no on this unfair employer pay-
roll tax.
Rich Duncan
Salem
letters
Payroll tax
To the Editor:
I have been giving the proposed
transit district payroll tax a lot of
thought.
I feel it would be nice to have bus
service on Saturdays and Sundays and
between 9 and 11 p.m. all week long.
I am not sure the equitable way to
pay for it is a payroll tax.
It is always easy to let someone
else pay for services that we think
we would like to have. Just because a
business has a payroll does not mean
it has a large profi t. Some businesses
may be on the margin and many do
not need another tax. If our citizens
think we should have the additional
service then I believe everyone ought
to pay for it. We should do what is
fair.
Bill Quinn
Keizer
Keizertimes
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Concerned about transparency
I am writing to you from my
offi ce at the state capitol, where
all the legislators are gathered for
a few days of committee hearings.
Usually once a quarter we all come
back to the capitol and prep for the
next legislative session. We have in-
formation hearings in our respec-
tive committees and work on the
legislation we plan on introducing
in the upcoming session.
If you remember, I serve on the
Rural Communities, Land Use and
Water committee and the Judiciary
committee. This week we are sched-
uled to hear reports on the drought
conditions around the state, eco-
nomic trends in rural Oregon and
hear a report on the work group on
unmanned aircraft systems.
I am very concerned with a
growing problem in our govern-
ment, both state and federal, and
that would be a lack of transparen-
cy. I want to give two illustrations.
I had no idea that Oregon is in
agreement with the Federal Clean
Air Act: Waters of the United States
Rule, enacted in August of this year.
I was even more surprised that our
Attorney General under guidance
from the
capitol
By BILL POST
from the Governor’s offi ce com-
mitted Oregon to this act. We need
to look into this from a legislative
point of view, because we the legis-
lature are the voice for the citizens
of Oregon and we need to know
what decisions are being made that
will impact all Oregonians. (By the
way, between 12 and 22 other states
are suing the federal government in
opposition to this act.)
My second example comes in
the form of a hearing that actu-
ally didn’t happen. Recently 19
legislators requested a hearing to
look into the actions an organi-
zation that receives state funds. In
bipartisan fashion, the chairman of
the committee agreed to the hear-
ing and it was scheduled for Sept.
29 When the news broke regard-
ing this hearing, the Speaker of the
House immediately cancelled it. I
can’t begin to tell you how disap-
pointed I am. The hearing would
provide an opportunity for Orego-
nians to hear where their tax dollars
are being spent. We as citizens have
that right and it is incredibly disap-
pointing that we were denied the
legislative process and ultimately
that this organization will not be
held accountable.
I have very much enjoyed get-
ting to meet many of you over the
past few months of the interim. I’ve
been at civic events, town halls, and
spoken to many groups, because I
think it is very important for every
legislator to hear from the voters in
their district. It can be easy for pub-
lic offi cials to get into a little bubble
and have agency staff and lobbyists
telling them how things have always
been done. Our government was
intended to function with heavy
involvement from the people – I
want to make sure that your voice
is heard in our state government.
(Bill Post represents House District
25. He can be reached at 503-986-
1425 or via email at rep.billpost@
state.or.us.)
Trump support vs. education
Is a free education in an American
public school worth what you pay for
it? It’s not really free because taxpay-
ers fund it but there is no tuition for
attending a public school in the U.S.,
usually kindergarten through grade
12. But whether it’s worth it to tax-
payers and the time American youth
spend there, it has become a question
more commonly asked.
What causes one to ponder its
worth is the millions of its graduates,
who plainly display behaviors that
seriously question whether they got
anything out of it that has enlightened
them, enhanced their intelligence or
addressed their naivete. The matter has
come to the fore over those Ameri-
cans now declaring that they believe
the promises of one presidential can-
didate, Donald Trump.
There may be difference of opinion
on what a high school graduate should
know and, although the U.S. may have
the largest dropout percentage in the
world where a country offers its citi-
zens, and even illegal immigrants, 12
years of free schooling, there must be
some degree of general agreement on
what knowledge and savvy should
have been acquired. My position on
this subject argues that a person pos-
sessing 12 years of schooling should at
the very least know fact from fi ction,
how to problem solve using facts, how
to reach valid conclusions
and how to recognize
and use the basic tools
of logic. They should
also have matriculated
through enough class
work and home study
to enable them to read,
write and cipher at their
grade level.
Enter The Donald,
candidate for president
of the most powerful and
productive nation in the
world who says he can
do the following: reverse
the fl ow of American
jobs overseas and provide
every American who can,
and wants, to work with a
job; he can round up and
deport 11 million un-
documented people liv-
ing illegally in the United
States; build a 2,000-mile
long wall that’s
virtually
im-
penetrable and
keep all for-
eigners out save
those who’ve
applied
and
been granted
permission to
enter; get Mexico to pay for this wall
whose size and design would compete
with that famous wall in China; ne-
gotiate deals with other nations that
will be of one-sided benefi t to the
United States; clean up and bring to
an end criminal gangs in the U.S. and,
meanwhile, make America great in
every way again. Further, among all
the other great accomplishments he
promises to deliver, he’ll destroy ISIS
by putting thousands of American
troops on the ground in the Middle
East and taking possession of every oil
well in that part of the world.
He’s got the support and encour-
agement of literally millions of voters
as about 30 percent of voting Repub-
licans want him to be their national
leader as well as the many others out-
side of GOP affi liation. And that’s in
view of what he’s promising these
people who may have led themselves
to believe they’re educated or educat-
ed enough. That’s in spite of the fact
that The Donald promises to deliver
gene h.
mcintyre
even one of the highly improbables he
says he can make happen, may read-
ily be categorized in the ‘when pigs fl y’
department.
Some among those who’ve re-
sponded by writing letters to the
editor say there’s a close resemblance
of The Donald to Nazi Germany’s
Adolph Hitler. I’d take issue with that
assessment of The Donald in that as
far back as when Hitler penned Mein
Kampf he expressed a hatred of com-
munists and Jewish people and was
contemplating ways to rid Germany
of them. To my knowledge of The
Donald has not made threats of ter-
mination against any group of people.
He wants to assure that certain persons
in the country illegally are sent back
to their place of origin; yet,while he
has singled out Hispanics among those
legally here and wants to permanently
expel the criminal element in their
number, he would permit back those
with bona fi de application made and
approved.
We cannot stand back and assess
this candidate as someone who sim-
ply likes to blow his horn loudly but
should be, to save face as a nation of
persons with suffi cient educational
bearings from at least 12 years of
schooling, viewed without wearing
rose-colored glasses.
(Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap-
pears weekly in the Keizertimes.)