Rege 4 Portland Observer, June 8, 1963
EDITORIAL/OPINION
Making democracy work
When following the rules doesn’t get you
what you want, change the rules. That seems to
be the philosophy o f House Speaker Grattan
Kerans and the House Democratic leadership.
The House Revenue Committee, appointed
by Kerans in January, refused to send the sales
tax to the House floor for a vote — voting 5-4.
This was not the highly publicized “ lack of
consensus,” but an outright rejection. Kerans
then took the sales tax from the Revenue Com
mittee and appointed a special committee, the
only function of which will be to send the sales
tax to the floor.
Strangely enough, Kerans* new committee is
composed entirely of Representatives who favor
referring the sales tax to the voters: Tom
Throop, Revenue Committee Chairman, whose
sole intent on that committee was getting the
sales tax through; Peter Courtney and Tom Van
Vliet, sponsors of sales tax measures; Hardy
Myers, Vera Katz, Kip Lombard and Ted
Calouri.
The House vote to approve Kerans’ new
committee was 40-13 and, strangely enough,
Democrats were the supporters of this subver
sion of the democratic process. Only five Demo
crats— W ally Priestley, Ed Leek, Jim Scavera,
Bob Shiprack, and Max Simpson — voted no.
Republicans Burroughs, DeBoer, Hanneman,
Eldon Johnson, D .E . Jones, M arkham, Parkin-
by Walter F. Brown
Stale Senator District 12
son and Trahern joined them.
These Democrats acted in opposition to the
Democratic Party’s state platform which
opposes the sales tax. The common excuse is
that these ’’representatives’’ oppose a sales tax
as unjust but believe the voters should make that
decision. This is nothing but an indication of
lack o f courage and responsibility and an
inability to stand up to the pressures exerted by
some segments o f the business community. We
are especially disappointed with some o f those
who have sought and received the support of
working people, the poor and minorities
through a liberal or progressive line: Rick
Bauman, Vera Katz, Shirley Gold, Dick
Springer, Jim H ill, Larry H ill, Carl Hosticka,
Barbara Roberts, Jane Cease and Kerans
himself.
We hope Kerans will put his ingenuity to work
on behalf o f the voters and find a way to pass
the two-parent welfare bill, the medically needy
bill, the deadly force bill and other needed social
legislation.
If the Democratic Party is to have any credi-
oility in Oregon it must condemn those represen
tatives who blatantly disregarded their own plat
form and voted contrary to the wishes and inter
ests of the vast number o f Democrats. A search
to find candidates who believe in and will carry
out the philosophy o f the party is in order.
Restore MHRC budget, staff
A ground swell of support for restoration of
the Metropolitan Human Relations Commis
sion’s budget, staff and programs is developing
among the organizations and the public.
Without restoration, the reduction o f the
M H R C staff and its ability to search out the
facts, advocate for minorities and the poor, and
provide information will be a severe blow to the
non-profit agencies and religious bodies that
now operate — with public contributions — to
help mitigate the effects o f a poor economy and
religious harassment and discrimination on indi
viduals and groups.
M H R C has been highly successful in dealing
with racism in the Portland school district and in
City and County government. The loss o f this
agency would touch the lives o f the thousands of
people who directly or indirectly benefit from its
services.
I f anyone believes Portland no longer needs
education, mediation and intervention, they
should note the recent press coverage o f by
standers watching police officers being beaten
and cheering as man jumped from the Burnside
Bridge in a suicide attempt. Much remains to be
done in Portland. This is no time to destroy the
only official human rights/civil rights watchdog.
Letters to the Editor
Murder El Salvador's top health problem
To'the Editor:
President Reagan is again trying
to fool the American public while he
escalates the U .S. war against the
Salvadoran people. M ore U .S . sol
diers. in the form o f 25 "medical
m ilitary advisors," are allegedly
"hum an itarian " aid to treat "c iv il
ian and military alike.” This 50%
increase in U.S. troops in El Salvador
will serve what Reagan labels a
"freely elected, democratic govern
ment.”
tt mg a n<p<-a k aside, this Salvadoran
regime has a gruesome "m edical”
system. M urder by the military and
allied death squads has replaced in
fectious disease as the nation’s lead
ing health problem. This brutal dic
tatorship has assassinated, tortured
and threatened doctors, nurses and
medical students. The Salvadoran
military has flagrantly entered hos
pitals and shot down patients and
medical workers in cold blood
("Abuses o f Medical N eutrality,”
Public Health Commission to El
Salvador; American Public Health
Assoc., et al. July 1980). In June,
1979 medical education was halted
when government troops attacked
the National University. Since then,
official health supplies and services
have been reserved entirely for the
military and those close to the gov
ernment.
Contrast Reagan's "advisors"
ind this deadly official medical sys
Met ►
tem with our nationwide pcople-to-
people "Medical Aid for El Salvador"
campaign. W e raise funds to send
medical supplies and training for the
unofficial, "popular clinics" main
tained by the opposition movement,
F M L N /F D R . The m ajority o f rural
Salvadorans now rely on these
clinics and mobile health teams
which operate secretly, hidden from
U.S.-supplied napalm, phosphorus
bombs,
and
from
government
search-and-destroy missions. Refu
gees from the official medical
system (doctors, medical students,
nurses) train paramedics and treat
the sick and wounded — primarily
civilians but guerrilla and govern
ment combatants alike.
Public
health campaigns include innocula-
tions, vitam inization, and sanita
tion. A new Salvadoran healthcare
system is arising in the 25-30% o f
the country known as "zones of
co n tro l." Here Salvadorans are
creating not only a healthcare
system, but schooling, land reform,
and elected community govern
ments.
"M ed ica l Aid for El Salvador."
through the Committee In Solidarity
with the People of El Salvador
(C1SPES),
has
raised
nearly
$150,000 in 1983. Portland alone
contributed $7,700 through neigh
borhood canvassing, concerts, sales,
speakers, and donation boxes.
Coming after M ultnom ah County’s
75% vote against more guns to the
dictatorship, Portland's response to
W hite
House
m edical/m ilitary
maneuvering is clear: Stop the U.S.
War; help build the new El Salvador.
Marcia Hamlay
Cathie Shlm abukuro
Medical Aid for El Salvador.
Portland Central America
Solidarity Committee
P.O. Boa 6443
Portland. OR «7228
Community
Development
To the Editor:
Your M ay 18 issue contained an
article about the Comm unity Devel
opment Finance Corporation. HH
2002, sponsored by District 18
Democratic
Representative
Ed
Leek. The article suggests that the
idea for a C D F C began with the fall
campaign o f the Citizen’s Party in
District 40. It's important to set the
record straight.
A Com m unity Development Fi
nance Corporation, as a tool for
putting Oregonians back to work,
was first proposed by Don Clark in
his bid to become the Democratic
nominee for Governor in the spring
o f 1982. This proposal was based on
the Massachusetts C D F C and work
done for the campaign by Bill
Street, then a Portland consultant.
Portland Observer
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Salem Update
0«n. - ' » I .
uneu, ’ •>
The Oregon Legislature is fast
approaching a major fork on the
road to property lax relief. During
the next few weeks all Oregonians
will have a unique opportunity to
ask their state legislators to give
needed property tax relief through a
$20,000 homestead exemption from
property taxes, funded by reforming
Oregon's income tax law. and not to
give property tax relief through a
4 % general sales tax.
In late A pril the Revenue and
School Finance Committee in the
House of Representatives drafted
two plans for property tax relief.
The more progressive plan — H JR
32 — exempts the first $20,000 of
taxable value from all local property
taxes. The homestead exemption
would be protected by the State
Constitution from any repeal by the
Legislature. Renters would also re
ceive relief. Local control over local
budgets would be preserved. The
Homeowners And Renters Relief
Program (H A R R P ) — a separate
property tax relief program for low
income Oregonians — would be
continued.
The House Revenue Committee is
considering two options for funding
this homestead property tax exemp
tion. The better funding option
raises the needed dollars by restor
ing progressivity to Oregon's per
sonal income tax law, outdated by
inflation. Personal tax rates have
not been changed since the early
1960’s. The first option, which re
structures Oregon's personal in
come tax law, will actually lower the
income taxes paid by two-thirds of
Oregonians. Thus the better option
gives most taxpayers both property
tax relief and income tax relief. The
second option o f raising all income
taxes by 17% is poor policy, in my
view. It would permit the opponents
o f a homestead exemption to adver
tise: "W h ile H J R 32 may lower
your property taxes it will raise your
income taxes." The first funding
option lowers both property and in
come taxes for the majority o f O re
gonians.
HJR 32 — the progressive proper
ty tax relief plan — is based upon a
proposal put together in a public
meeting in the Capitol by a coalition
which included the Oregon Demo
cratic Party and a dozen statewide
organizations speaking for the
people who are carrying the heaviest
burdens during the current reces
sion. They include:
• Family farmers (Oregon State
Grange
&
Oregon-Washington
Farmers Union)
• Senior citizens (Gray Panthers
o f Portland A Salem)
• W orking people
— Oregon A F L -C IO
— Oregon State Industrial
Union Council
— Oregon State Building A
Construction Trades Council
— American Federation of State,
County A Municipal
Employees (A F S C M E )
• Mobile home tenants (Oregon
State Tenants Association)
• Consumers (Oregon Consumer
League)
• Women (W om en ’s Rights C o a
lition A Oregon W omen's Political
Caucus)
• Middle and lower income city
people (Oregon Fair Share)
An earlier version o f H JR 32 is
found in SB 737 which I introduced
Following the defeat of C lark in
the primary, Ed Leek, Bill Street
and I began developing legislation
based on the C lark campaign pro
posals It was Leek's particular con
cern (hat a C D F C provide financing
for public works and small business.
Meanwhile, the idea for a C D F C
was picked up by the Citizen’ s Party
candidate Laurel Paulson in her
campaign against Eugene liberal
Democrat Carl Hostika.
H B 2002, which was a legislative
priority of the Oregon Democratic
'ÆfeÇfGr'
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Congratulations
Graduates
in the Senate on M arch 10 at the re
quest o f most o f these organiza
tions. W hile many states have
homestead property tax exemptions,
SB 737 would have given Oregonians
the most generous "hom estead"
property tax relief plan in the
United States. I f H JR 32 passes, it
would put Oregon at the top with
Florida.
The regressive property tax relief
plan — H JR 34 — is based upon a
sales tax proposal put together on
A p ril 13th in a private meeting by
special interest lobbyists, as report
ed by the Salem Statesman Journal:
“ In a high-level pow-wow held
away from the C apitol, business,
education and local government
lobbyists met with key legislators
and agreed to support a 4 % sales
tax dedicated to relieving property
taxes. . . . Attending the meeting
were representatives from school
boards, teachers, community col
leges,
school
administrators,
cities, counties, utilities, banks,
timber and electronics industries."
(4-14-83)
H JR 34 would saddle Oregonians
with a 4 % general sales tax locked
into the Oregon Constitution. It
would only exempt food, pre
scription
drugs,
medical
care,
utilities, housing, livestock, feed,
seed, fertilizer, and pesticides. It
would tax a ll other goods and serv
ices. Oregonians who today are
asking for tax relief would end up
(under H JR 34) paying a 4 % sales
tax on automobiles and auto re
pairs, home appliances and ap
pliance repairs, baby clothing, soap,
toothpaste, blankets, wheelchairs,
eye glasses, dental care, meals out,
newspaper subscriptions, mobile
homes, etc.
Further, consumers will ultimate
ly pay all the sales taxes paid by the
producers o f good and the providers
o f services. The sales taxes that
farmers pay when buying needed
machinery will be passed on to con
sumers in the form o f higher food
costs. The sales taxes that carpenters,
plumbers, and electricians pay when
buying needed tools w ill be passed
on to consumers in the form o f
higher housing costs.
A recent study on the financial
impact o f C alifornia's sales tax
shows that even after food and
drugs are exempted, consumers
earning less than $10,000 per year
spend 41 % o f their income on goods
and services which were "sales
taxed" but that those earning more
than $75,000 a year spend only 17%
o f their income on "sales taxed"
goods and services. In short, the
poorest pay the most heavily.
Unlike H JR 32 which would give
100% o f the property tax relief (by
homestead
exemption)
to
homeowners and renters, H JR 34
would give homeowners and renters
only 40% o f the property tax relief
dearly bought by the sales tax. This
means that thousands o f low and
middle income Oregonians would be
sales-taxed to help provide property
tax relief to wealthy out-of-state
owned corporations like Portland
General Electric, Albertsons, Safe
way, Meier A Frank, Fred Meyer,
Boeing, some o f Oregon’s biggest
banks, Southern Pacific and Union
Pacific railroads. Weyerhaeuser.
Publishers Paper, Crown Zeller-
bach, Boise Cascade, and the big oil
companies.
But don't these big corporations
need property tax relief too? In fact,
they're doing better than you think.
Party, passed the House 59-0. Rep.
Leek was able to forge a broad
coalition in support o f what the
Oregonian has labeled, "th e center-
piece o f economic development
legislation this session." H B 3003,
introduced this week and likewise a
Democratic priority as a companion
measure to H B 2002, will provide
financing to small businesses and
community projects, "w hich stabi
lize and expand employment oppor
tunities in the state." It has 39 co
sponsors in the House and 16 spon
sors in the Senate, where Sen. Jim
Gardner is the co-chief sponsor, as
he was o f H B 2002.
It was no accident that the C D F C
and H B 2002 and 3003 were devel
oped in the Democratic Party and
sponsored by Rep. Leek — both he
and I were staff members on the
Don Clark campaign. Credit where
credit’s due.
William B. Thomaa
Chair. CPO Platform Commlttaa
In The Oregonian. Leonard Curry,
reporter for Newhouse News Serv
ice, recently wrote:
"President Reagan's income tax
cuts for business resulted in the
highest corporate after-tax profits
in postwar history last year despite
the long and deep recession."
(2-6-83)
The political pressure from the
out-of-state owners o f many Oregon
businesses helps explain the well
financed campaign for a statewide
general sales tax. As Oliver C .
Larson, former Executive Vice
President o f the Portland Chamber
o f Commerce, has put it:
" T h e sales tax is a favorite tax
recommendation to Oregonians
from absentee ownership. The cry
for a sales tax accelerates in direct
proportion to diminishing local
business control in our state.
"W h e n the Portland and Oregon
business community was led by
Oregonians, there was little pres
sure for a sales tax. W ith accelera
tion o f out-of-state ownership,
the hue and cry for a sales tax
picked up measurably. . . . O re
gonians will not be fooled. They
know it's a regressive tax aimed at
small business and the working
people." (The Oregon Indepen
dent Grocer, A pr. ’83)
In recent years there has been a
dramatic shift o f the tax burden
from big corporations and the
wealthy to low and middle income
taxpayers. In 1982-83, corporate in
come taxes in Oregon will provide
only an estimated 8.5 % o f the
General Fund, a drop o f 40% since
1979-80. Similarly, on the national
level, Citizens for Tax Justice re
cently released a study in Washing
ton, D .C ., reporting that:
"President Reagan's tax changes
have sharply shifted the nation's
tax burden away from the wealthy
and large corporation to average
taxpayers___ ” (The Oregonian,
4-18-83)
The C TJ report concluded:
“ When the impacts o f infiation
and rising Social Security taxes
are factored in, the vast majority
o f middle and lower-income tax
payers now pay a higher share of
their income, in taxes than they
did in 1980."
It seems clear that the concerns of
special interest groups receive more
attention in Salem and Washington,
D .C . than do the concerns o f the
people back home.
The House Revenue Committee
has also introduced H JR 33, which
would impose a lim itation on expen
ditures o f state and local govern
ments.
Based on a proposed
form ula, expenditures could only
increase for each budget period at
the rate o f population and income
growth. This measure could either
be attached to H JR 32 or H J R 34.
or be voted on separately.
Oregonians who want to express
their views or find out where their
legislator stands on H JR 32 and
H JR 34 can write them at the O re
gon State Capitol, Salem, OR
97310, or phone the Capitol toll-free
I-8OO-452-78I3.
Here
are
the
members o f the House Revenue
Committee: Representatives Tom
Throop, Bend (Chair); George
Trahern, Grants Pass (Vice-Chair);
Jane Cease, Portland; Carl Hosticka,
Eugene; Bill M arkham , Riddle;
Fred Parkinson, Silverton; W ally
Priestley,
Portland;
Barbara
Roberts, Portland; John Schoon,
Rickreall.
W ar and health
(Continued fro m page I column J)
U .S. government propping up the
minority in El Salvador and its sup
port o f rebels in Nicaragua? " I
believe that the government o f the
United States is carrying out actions
which are far from being a friendly
attitude towards these people. They
are expressing an antagonistic atti
tude. W e know that we must distin
guish between the people o f the
United States and the government.
And we have faith that the people of
the United States will halt the in
creasingly aggressive policy o f Presi
dent Reagan. W e want peace!"
For more inform ation about the
Salvadoran
people
call
Ross
Danielson at 281-8126.
Register
end
vo tel