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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2016)
Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Friday, June 3, 2016 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN DANIEL WATTENBURGER Publisher Managing Editor JENNINE PERKINSON TIM TRAINOR Advertising Director Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW Tip of the hat; kick in the pants A tip of the hat to our local graduates, who are inishing off one era of their lives and ready to start another. Obviously, high school and college grads of 2016 ind themselves on the precipice of the most dramatic changes. But up and down the line, inishing one year of schooling and moving on to the next is an important milestone. The summer buffer helps ease the transition, but it’s always clear to youth that they are growing up and moving up the ladder, building skills and adding responsibilities on each and every rung. Those bidding adieu to high schools in Umatilla and Morrow counties deserve credit for earning their almighty diploma, a necessity in this day and age to ensure successful career prospects. Those who took the next step and earned a higher degree deserve credit, too. They step out into the world fresh- faced and passionate — and needed. We hope they work hard, are given opportunities to excel, and help others in their communities climb the ladder. A tip of the hat to local ire crews, who have been exceptionally busy the past two weeks rushing from one lare-up to the next to keep our landscape from becoming charred beyond recognition before summer even begins. Look around and you can just tell, the next 3-4 months are going to be hot and dry. The number of grass ires is a reminder to all of us to be careful. That means with bonires, campires, cigarettes, exhaust pipes, bullet casings and anything else that can catch one piece of dry grass on ire. Because one piece of dry grass can turn into a big problem. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. OTHER VIEWS A sales tax by another name The Yamhill Valley News-Register n analysis released this week conirms what many Oregonians have suspected from the outset: Initiative Petition 28 is bad for our state and bad for our pocketbooks. It has little if any upside. Just making the ballot, the measure puts us in a lose-lose situation. The sponsoring coalition, consisting largely of public employee unions, is proposing a historically large tax increase on companies doing business here — probably the largest ever imposed. Signatures were submitted last week to qualify IP 28 for the November ballot. Under IP 28, a tax of 2.5 percent would be imposed on all sales over $25 million, in addition to the corporate minimum tax on the irst $25 million. A corporation with $50 million in sales would incur a minimum tax of $655,001. The report from the nonpartisan Legislative Revenue Ofice exposes the measure for what it is — a consumption tax that would ultimately be passed on to consumers. The ofice estimates people with incomes of $21,000 or less would pay $372 more in indirect state taxes. Those making between $48,000 and $68,000 would pay $613 more, those with incomes between $103,000 and $137,000 would pay $751 more, and those with incomes over $206,000 a year A would pay $1,282 more. A Better Oregon, the union-led nonproit behind the measure, claims it’s a case of out-of-state corporations paying their fair share. It claims the gusher of new revenue would boost education and health care services. But we see it as a money-making scheme to address the ongoing Public Employee Retirement System shortfall. In essence, the public unions are seeking a bailout from corporations and consumers. Because it functions as a gross receipts tax, not taking into account proit and loss, companies operating on smaller margins would be forced to raise prices. The best example would be grocery stores. “Taxes initially born by the retail trade, wholesale trade and utility sectors are expected to result in higher prices for Oregon residents,” the report concludes. Furthermore, it concludes that just 50 of the 1,051 irms subject to the tax would take more than half of the hit. Being taxed millions of additional dollars to bail out PERS is a sound reason for CEOs to look elsewhere to establish business and provide jobs. Some are predicting it will trigger the most expensive political ight in Oregon’s history, as business and labor interests battle public union rhetoric. It will thus mean more division and less constructive compromise as Oregon seeks solutions for the future. We see it as a money-making scheme to address the ongoing PERS shortfall. OTHER VIEWS Politicians and the lies that matter have on U.S. companies? To act as if our Honor, I rise this week in those are not even issues is fraud. defense of Hillary Clinton. I see from polls that Clinton Trump’s tax plan? The nonpartisan scores very low on “trustworthy” Tax Policy Center estimates that it questions. Well, let’s talk about truth in would decrease tax revenues over politics. All politicians shade the truth 10 years by $11.2 trillion, and since at times. Some do it more than others. Trump has ruled out entitlement Indeed, when Donald Trump tells the cuts, he would need to slash all truth, it should be labeled “Breaking Thomas discretionary federal spending by 80 News — Trump tells truth without Friedman percent — that’s where the defense, immediately contradicting himself. research and education budgets Comment We’re going live to the scene right come from. This is not just magical now.” thinking, it’s nonsense, and if Trump Here is what is relevant: Lying is serious implemented half of it, your kids would pay business. But Clinton’s ibs dearly. or lack of candor are all As for Sanders, he is about bad judgments she promising to break up the made on issues that will not big banks. Under what legal impact the future of either authority? What would my family or my country. be the economic fallout? Private email servers? Cattle And how would this raise futures? Goldman Sachs stagnant incomes for lectures? All really stupid, middle-class Americans? but my kids will not be Sanders mumbles on these harmed by those poor calls. questions. Debate where she came The Tax Policy Center out on Iraq and Libya, if said in a study of Sanders’ you will, but those were considered judgment full economic plan, including free health care, calls, and if you disagree don’t vote for her. with no premiums or copays, and free college But while Hillary’s struggles with the education, more generous Social Security whole truth on certain issues have garnered beneits and 12 weeks of family leave, “Even huge attention, driving up her negatives, though Sanders would raise taxes on nearly all Trump and Bernie Sanders have been getting households by a total of more than $15 trillion away with some full Burger King Double over the next decade, his plan still would add Whoppers that will come crashing down on an additional $18 trillion (plus at least $3 the whole country if either gets the chance to trillion in interest) to the national debt over do what he says. the period” and thereby “create an enormous Trump told a biker rally in Washington on iscal challenge.” Even eliminating the defense Sunday: “When you think of the great Gen. budget wouldn’t come close to balancing his Patton and all our generals, they are spinning books. in their graves when they watch we can’t beat If you’re a college student “feeling the ISIS. ... We are going to knock the hell out of Bern,” I hope you’re wearing sunscreen, them.” Then, for good measure, he repeated because if Sanders wins, you and your kids his long-standing call to build a wall along will be paying for his cash burn for eternity. the Mexican border, and when he asked who All lying in politics is not created equal. would pay for it, the crowd shouted in unison: I think the ideology Sanders is selling is “Mexico!” Trump added, “Not even a doubt.” fanciful, but underlying it is a moral critique Really, not even a doubt? Why hasn’t of modern capitalism that has merit and President Barack Obama been a “real man” deserves to be heard. But Sanders is not being and just carpet-bombed the Islamic State truthful about the costs. What is grating about off the face of the earth? Answer: 1.) ISIS is Clinton is that her prevarications seem so embedded in urban areas, among Iraqi and unnecessary and often insult our intelligence. Syrian civilians, so we can’t carpet-bomb But they are not about existential issues. As the terrorists without killing all the civilians for Trump, his lies are industrial size and often around them. 2.) If Obama sent the 82nd contradict each other. But there is no theory Airborne into Mosul and wiped out ISIS, behind his lies, except what will advance him, after horriic door-to-door ighting, the which is why Trump is only scary if he wins. morning after the battle we would own Mosul, Otherwise, his candidacy will leave no ideas because there is no agreement among Sunni behind. It will just be a reality TV show that tribes there, let alone the Kurds, Shiites and got canceled. neighboring Turkey, over who should control This is serious. We’re about to elect all Mosul post-ISIS. In other words, we’d be three branches of our government. I wish we stuck governing it. So Obama is trying to had better choices, but given the options, I’d squeeze ISIS with one hand while trying to vote for the candidate who is most likely to be squeeze Iraqis to come together around a a practical uniier and get some things done — post-ISIS order with the other. and who only tells whoppers about herself, not It’s called being strategic and Gen. Patton about my country’s future. would be applauding from his grave. ■ On Mexico, please tell me why it would Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer pay for a multibillion-dollar wall on our Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for border and how we would compel our The New York Times. He became the paper’s neighbor to do so and what impact that would foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995. Y This is serious. We’re about to elect all three branches of government. YOUR VIEWS Boardman farm worker housing a shameful plan I don’t generally spend my Tuesday nights at land use hearings (I ind the process nauseating), but I was sent a notice as an adjacent landowner and decided I needed to go see who, or what, was going to be my new neighbor. Most landowners, myself included, go to protect our rural lifestyle and property values. Poised and armed with ORAs and ORSs, I headed off to the meeting. Disguised in a zoning amendment was a proposal for a small city, “a man camp,” called farm worker housing. Mind you, this is not in the urban growth boundary but on land owned by the city at the corner of Tower and Kunze. How? Well they are proposing to rezone high-value Space Age Industrial land to Exclusive Farm Use. And under EFU, farm worker housing regardless of size or scale is an unconditionally permitted use. The ultimate goal is to warehouse up to 800 “guest workers” at this concentrated camp. These “guest workers,” indentured by contract and conined by employment, are to be socially and geographically isolated and the only services rendered to them will be sewer and water. When queried as to their opportunity at anything resembling an ambulatory existence, the attorney who spoke on behalf of Three Mile Canyon Farms and PROfuut Limited Partnership LLP testiied: “Thev will be bused to town for groceries once a week.” What started off as a land use hearing could have been mistaken for a civil rights case. I remember a documentary I watched in college called “Harvest of Shame.” I thought it outdated at the time — as a country. I thought we had moved past this. Apparently not. I would hazard a guess that very few who are reading this have heard anything about this, perhaps by design. This is a horriic proposal that will not stand up to the scrutiny of intelligent or compassionate citizens. My initial concerns now seemed petty and selish. Move past the ill-conceived notion of placing this outside the urban growth boundary and surrendering any hope of regulation concentrate on the utter lack of humanity in this proposal. Shame on you! Kelly Doherty Boardman LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. Send letters to 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.