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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2015)
PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 30, 2015 KeizerOpinion KEIZERTIMES.COM Opposition to payroll tax To the Editor: I was listening to a fellow busi- ness owner this past weekend. This is how he explained the impact of the proposed employer payroll tax on his business: “It will cost me, personally, one month’s pay. This means that I will get paid for 11 of the 12 months I work.” As a small business owner in Salem myself, I adhere to the old ad- age for business owners, you have to do right by your partners (if any), em- ployees, suppliers, creditors and cus- tomers. Then if there is any left you take care of your family and yourself. In this instance, my fellow busi- ness owner will take a pay cut if this tax passes. Please vote no on the em- ployer payroll tax. No one should go without their paycheck. Eric T. McMullen Salem To the Editor: These are reasons why I am en- couraging you to vote no on Measure 24-388. First, we need a broader conversa- tion on the wants and needs of mass transit in the Keizer-Salem area. Mass transit is a need, weekend and later hours during the weekdays, in my opinion, is a want. Secondly, the percentage of peo- ple using mass transit is too small. I applaud Cherriots for making the changes in the fi rst phase of their Moving Forward. With the cor- rect focus and encouragement, more people will fi nd that taking the bus to work is easy. With time and effort the ridership numbers may increase to warrant a need of additional services. Thirdly, this proposed tax for in- creased services is unfair. The people (businesses) in our community who will have to pay extra taxes are already paying a fair share of the costs that provide the current services. Others pay too (government and the people who ride the bus). Cost of additional services should be spread among all, if that is what we determine we need. Finally, we can work together to fi nd other solutions. I want to think we can without having to hurt a singled out segment of the working class. I want to explore sustainable options. We need small businesses in our town to survive and prosper. Christine Dieker Keizer To the Editor: I am a third generation family business owner. For three generations our family has managed to run a busi- ness that provides a needed service to our customers, gives back to the com- munity, and provides our employ- ees and ourselves a living wage. My dream has always been that the fourth generation, my son, will continue this legacy. But this dream gets a little dimmer every time the federal, state or local government decides they need more money for their operation. Every time taxes and/or fees are imposed on a private business that business has to work twice as hard to make up for what is taken from their bottom line. The Salem Keizer Transit Dis- trict is currently asking you to vote to impose a tax on my employee payroll. Expanded public transit in Salem-Keizer is desirable; it benefi ts the entire community. Phase 1 of the Moving Forward Plan has yet to yield any indications of increased ridership. Those results need to be analyzed before implementing Phase 2. More importantly expanded public transit should not be the responsibility of only one segment of our community. Transit is a community service and it deserves a community solution. Please vote no on M24-388. Larry Jackson Salem To the Editor: The Employer Tax that our tran- sit district is trying to impose on private sector employers and the self-employed is unacceptable and unfair. While I agree that transit does play a critical role, I adamantly disagree with the proposed funding mechanism. Citizens cannot expect the business community to shoulder this burden alone. Inexcusably, two of Salem’s largest employers, the State letters of Oregon and S a l e m - Ke i z e r School Dis- trict are exempt from this new tax. How does that make sense and how can any reasonable voter see this as being fair? If our community believes that it is necessary for transit to expand servic- es then the entire community should pay, not just 1 percent of the popula- tion. Current fares are $1.60 for an adult and 80 cents for a student. Rid- ers should certainly bear some re- sponsibility for expanded service. Portland and Eugene impose an employer payroll tax for transit. Over the last 10 years, they have raised taxes 10 out of 10 years in Portland and seven out of the last 10 years in Eu- gene. Businesses could see their taxes double within 10 years. This is unac- ceptable and needs to be stopped. I am voting no. Join me in putting a stop to the employer tax. Ryan Allbritton Salem Support for payroll tax To the Editor: Salem-Keizer once had one of the state’s leading community transport systems. Less than a decade ago, the district enjoyed a ridership exceeding 5 million. Unfortunately, revenue cut- backs, inevitably followed by service cutbacks, have resulted in declining ridership. Last year, Cherriot carried 3.6 million. Salem is currently the only city in the Northwest with more than 100,000 people that does not have Saturday bus service. Our community now has an op- portunity to restore services that were cut and to create a pathway for in- creasing ridership in the future. That’s why I am voting “yes” for the Salem-Keizer Transit (Cherriots) measure (No. 24-388). And I hope you will too. The measure would al- low Cherriots to provide weekend and holiday bus service, extend bus runs later into the evening hours dur- ing the week and offer free bus passes to middle- and high-school students. It would also allow the CherryLift to operate on weekends and holidays and, more generally, enable to Cher- riots to fully implement its “Moving Forward” agenda, helping to meet the growing transit needs of Salem and Keizer. All of this would make our com- munity a better and healthier place to live and likely give a bit of a boost to the economy by way of increased business activities and more vibrant, community-connected neighbor- hoods. It would certainly help those without cars – seniors, students and the disabled – participate more fully in the life of our community. This would all be achieved through a modest 0.21 percent tax on business payrolls. For half of the private fi rms in the Salam-Keizer transit district, the “expense” would amount to no more than $168 a year, or less than 50 cents a day. By any fair measure, in fact, this should be viewed not as an expense but an investment that will provide valuable returns to the com- munity and local economy. The wage tax has proven a viable way to provide community transit services in Portland and Eugene, both of which have implemented broad strategies to improve their transit sys- tems. Portland’s community transport system is considered among the na- tion’s best and Eugene’s community transport system now carries more than 11.5 million riders each year. Opponents of the measure have had six years to come up with an alterna- tive proposal to restore the weekend and evening service. They have failed to do so, and they shouldn’t now be standing in the way of a measure that is long overdue. Community transit systems have gained an increasing presence across Oregon from Portland to Corvallis to Eugene. Public transit is now widely recognized as a critical agent for so- cial and economic progress, as well as a vital sign of a community’s forward- looking thinking. Support for the Salem-Keizer Transit measure (No. 24-388) is not just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do – for the Keizertimes Wheatland Publishing Corp. • 142 Chemawa Road N. • Keizer, Oregon 97303 phone: 503.390.1051 • web: www.keizertimes.com • email: kt@keizertimes.com Lyndon A. Zaitz, Editor & Publisher SUBSCRIPTIONS One year: $25 in Marion County, $33 outside Marion County, $45 outside Oregon PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY Publication No: USPS 679-430 POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Keizertimes Circulation 142 Chemawa Road N. Keizer, OR 97303 Periodical postage paid at Salem, Oregon Many issues keep my mind busy Once again I am honored and priv- ileged to serve you the good people of Keizer (along with St. Paul, Newberg and parts in between) in the Oregon Legislature. This month is sort of a “grab bag” of thoughts. First off, I am always surprised at how many people I talk to who aren’t even aware there is an Oregon Legis- lature. I talk to a lot of people around town, by e-mail and social media, and many are not aware that the session of 2015 even happened, especially those it affected the most: businesses. In the 2015 Session, there were several laws passed that will further burden busi- nesses in our district and that greatly concerns me. I get excited to read the Keizertimes and see new businesses start up or old ones grow larger – this is success for all of us, not just the busi- ness owner. This is the main reason I am opposed (not as your state repre- sentative, but as Bill Post, the guy who lives in a home in Keizer) to the Sa- lem-Keizer transit payroll tax. I have seen the very diffi cult choices business will have to make beginning in 2016 thanks to the Oregon Legislature – they don’ t need another burden. Second, I love the weekly poll in from the capitol By BILL POST the Keizertimes, as it tells us a little bit about our community. Last week it featured a question concerning the amount of guns in our households. Thirty-four percent said they had no guns while 66 percent said they did, with 30 percent saying they had 10 or more guns. I am encouraged by that as we have a right, thanks to the US and Oregon Constitutions, to own those guns and it seems Keizerites rev- el in that right. Lastly, I am concerned for the youth of our community. The “millennials” in particular (since my own son would be considered in that group). I watch as government has tried to make their lives easier, yet instead, their future success is appearing more elusive. By expanding entitlements to so many, those of my generation are saddling young people with debt that they’ll never be able to pay. We encourage them to go to college and get a degree but then prevent them from entering the job market through licensing, red tape and protection of already estab- lished workers. The idea of increasing minimum wage, while very appealing to hear and may be very well inten- tioned, makes it even more diffi cult for young, inexperienced and low skilled people to enter the job market. The thought that, “if only government were larger and gave more handouts, and taxes were raised to pay for these programs, then young people would do better” just isn’t true. Government tends to pick winners and losers, and the politically unorganized young are ineffective at lobbying for their inter- ests. The key for these young folks to succeed is for government to get out of their way. Though we are not in session again until February, I continue to do what I can to serve you in any way here in House District 25. (Bill Post represents House District 25. He can be reached at 503-986- 1425 or via email at rep.billpost@ state.or.us.) Is the world of the middle class coming to an end? Many a Christmas Eve ago, at the height of the Cold War, after the kids were put to bed, I laid there listening to the adults talk. One topic of con- versation scared me so bad I never for- got it: They discussed whether a war they believed was imminent would make that Christmas Eve the last one we’d ever celebrate. The end of the world was most likely discussed during the Ghen- gis Khan invasions, the Black Plague in Europe, the Great Depression and the World War II. To a certain degree, end-of-world comments land on the demise of the American middle class and the extreme, irreversible, concen- tration of wealth, delivering our na- tion to plutocracy where the unelect- ed one percent rule. What will happen to tens of thou- sands of American youth who seek a future like the one their parents be- lieved they would realize? There’s in- creasing doubt that our economy will recover enough to benefi t most of us and that the middle class is close to extinction. Addressing these matters and others, the Oregon Economic Forum was held at the Portland Art Museum where two relevant ques- tions were explored in reference to recovery from the so-called Great Re- cession and the middle class crisis. Along the same line of possibili- ties, Oregon’s Employment Depart- ment reports that, after a three-year growth spurt, this state has increased unemployment from 6.1 to 6.2 per- cent. This fact, apparently, has not caused economists here to believe there will be a sharp decline in jobs, just that economic recovery will oc- cur at a slower rate of growth. Overall new jobs have made gains in top earn- ers and those at the low end income earners but have been denied many others in the usually broad middle range. Those at- tending the forum learned from keynote speaker Jim Tankersley of The Washington Post that the rea- sons for the slowdown include the loss of manufacturing jobs due to automa- tion gains in the American workplace and foreign competition. Then there are the declining earnings for those without college degrees while those in the technology and fi nance sectors see gains. While there was an effort to bring Wall Street to heel eight years ago, there’s little that has changed. Ad- ditionally, mortgages and small-busi- ness loans are more diffi cult to get, while the paperwork required to ob- tain them has been signifi cantly in- creased. Meanwhile, the student loan payback burden diminishes these folks from the purchase of quality-of-life consumer items—mainly homes—but other big consumer-purchase items, too, even by those able to secure rela- tively high-paying jobs. It would seem that the U.S. could do much better at making inroads to the re-building of the middle class if we stopped warring overseas where American taxpayers now spend $10 million every day fi ghting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. We’ve obviously gained little or nothing from our warring in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria except to deplete the U.S. Trea- sury, greatly increase the national debt and lose American lives. There is so much that could be done inside our own nation if we’d husband our tax dollars and stop borrowing from over- seas to spend on projects here, putting millions of underemployed Americans back to work on re-building the na- tion’s infrastructure and reinstate our community, for business, and for our future well-being. It deserves a “yes” vote on November 3. Daniel Schaffer Keizer so that we are able to respond quickly and ef- fectively when there is an emer- gency. We can’t do that, however, without reliable equipment. The Keizer Fire District was start- ed by volunteers and continues to use them today as one way to save tax payers’ money. We would like to urge the citizens of Keizer to help us help you by voting yes for the bond mea- sure for emergency equipment. Keizer Volunteer Firefi ghters Association President – Bill Herring To the Editor: To our new city councilor Amy Ryan: Please remember you are a councilor for all the residents of Keiz- er, not just the business people. I challenge you to put your car keys up for two weeks and use pub- lic transportation (this means going to work, buying groceries, keeping appointments, shopping, church, rec- reation, etc.). Accept no rides and no fair having others do tasks for you. Businesses will raise prices if necessary to keep their profi t margin intact. Those who buy the goods and services will actually be paying for a better bus system. Julia Ann Goin Keizer KFD levy is needed To the Editor: On behalf of the Keiz- er Volunteer Firefi ghters Association members, we the KVFA board are writ- ing to support the Keizer Fire 2015 Equipment Bond measure. In addi- tion to our regular jobs, we volunteer as fi refi ght- ers. We are well-trained and volunteer regularly gene h. mcintyre letters leadership in research and develop- ment in technology and communi- cations. Of course, there is need of many reforms at home here that keep getting put off while our national leaders fi ght with each other. All jobs in the U.S. related to ev- ery level of earning should be the dedicated focus of Congress and the administration. If those folks in Wash- ington, D.C. would turn away from their fi xation on warring overseas to working together, bringing to a halt special congressional committees to investigate other politicians for parti- san gain, we could soon realize prog- ress. However, until the leadership positions in our nation’s capitol are held by responsible Americans deter- mined to improve the common good and not just out to keep themselves in offi ce, we’ll continue to limp along, losing ground on every facet of life here that once were the hallmarks of a great nation. We must again learn to work to- gether as when we succeeded in our independence and winning wars against the Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany. As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his fi rst inaugural address mainly regarding the demise of almost everything in the U.S. by the Great Depression: “Let me assert my fi rm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustifi ed terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert re- treat into advance.” Let us remember that imminent doomsdays have plagued humankind since our arrival on Earth: Giving up in the face of what appears insur- mountable should be unacceptable to us. (Gene H. McIntyre’s column ap- pears weekly in the Keizertimes.) Vice President – Dale Slater Treasurer - Samantha Howell Secretary – Tony Ling At Large Member – Jason Perkins One grocery store? To the Editor: How can a town of over 35,000 have only one major supermar- ket? Talk about a monopoly. I hope the Chamber of Commerce can come up with something so that we don’t have to go over to Commer- cial to do our grocery shopping if we want a choice. Marge Willson Keizer