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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 2018)
6A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • OCTOBER 31, 2018 creased property taxes but only aft er voters approved the mea- sure. MEASURES from A1 private businesses means those bonds can’t be utilized by pri- vate housing developers, elim- inating the chance at a public/ private partnership between the city of Portland and a pri- vate housing development company. Measure 102 would change that, allowing the part- nership. Th e case for each project would still have to be made to voters in order to issue the bonds and should the bonds be approved, the measure requires a yearly audit of the funds and a report on how they’re being spent. Th e measure has received support from both sides of the aisle with both gubernatorial candidates saying they sup- ported the measure. Oregon AFL-CIO and IBEW Local 48, both union groups, voiced their support of the measure in this year’s voter pamphlet along with AARP Oregon and the League of Women Voters. Th e sole argument against the mea- sure included in the voter pam- phlet was state senator Alan Olsen arguing that “aff ordable housing” wasn’t defi ned in the measure and said he believed the measure could cause prop- erty taxes to increase. Measure 102 would not in- crease property taxes on its own. If approved, voters would decide if bond measures could be implemented and those funds — once green-lighted by voters — could be utilized by private housing developers. In Cottage Grove, the South Lane School District asked voters to pass a $35 million bond in 2016 to construct a new elementary school, remodel the communi- ty pool and improve technol- ogy and security around the district. In 2015, South Lane County Fire and Rescue asked voters to fund the purchase of new equipment including a wa- ter tender and fi re engine. Th ose bonds, in turn, in- Measure 103 Measure 103 seeks to prohibit sales tax on groceries By Damien Sherwood For The Sentinel Oregon sits uniquely in the Pacifi c Northwest as a state without a sales tax. When struggling Oregon families plot out their food expenditures, they can rely on their super- markets’ price tags without any surprises at the cash register. Still, in September this year, more than 620,000 Oregonians received help from the Supple- mental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the Department of Human Services. With hundreds of thousands of households living on thin margins, many can ill aff ord price hikes in basic ne- cessities. A measure on the Oregon ballot this year will challenge a perceived threat to these neces- sities. Measure 103 would amend the Oregon Constitution by adding a 16th section to Article IX. It proposes to prohibit taxes and fees based on the transac- tions of groceries, which would extend to sellers and distrib- utors such as supermarkets, restaurants, farmers markets and food banks. Th e bill defi nes groceries as “any raw or processed food or beverage intended for human consumption,” but does not include alcohol, marijuana or tobacco products. Th e proposed amendment has drawn strong support from food and beverage distribu- tors, but fi nds dissent among a wide range of critics concerned about the bill’s sprawling defi - nitions and lack of necessity. Oregon does not currently have a statewide sales tax on any items — including grocer- ies — although two Oregon cities, Ashland and Yachats, do have a fi ve percent tax on pre- pared food and nonalcoholic drinks, which essentially apply to restaurants. Both were voter-approved. Ashland fi rst approved its local tax in 1990 to help fund costs associated with the con- struction of a wastewater treat- ment plant and to purchase land for parks. In 2009, voters chose to renew it. Yachats fi rst started collect- ing its food and beverage tax in 2007, also to pay for a new wastewater treatment facility, and modeled their tax policy on Ashland’s, letting businesses keep fi ve percent of any sales tax they collect to off set ac- counting costs. “It has, by and large, been a positive eff ect on the commu- nity,” said Yachats Mayor Ger- ald Stanley. Outside of Yachats and Ash- land, Oregon does not tax food and beverages, although such a tax was proposed in Grants Pass in 2006 and residents turned it down. Th is year in Jacksonville, an eff ort was made to bring a similar tax to ballot, but failed to garner the required signa- tures. As these local negotiations have taken place, however, big- ger stakes are on the table in the state legislature. In support of Measure 103, campaign contributions are currently around $4.2 million, compared to the opposition’s roughly $2.8 million. Th e American Beverage As- sociation has poured more than $1 million into the sup- port campaign and other ma- jor donors include Albertsons, Safeway, Kroger, Costco and the Northwest Grocery Asso- ciation. When the initiative received enough signatures this spring to be placed on the Nov. 6 Gen- eral Election ballot, Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association, hailed the moment as a “major milestone.” A leading proponent of the bill, he said, “Since statehood, Oregon has never taxed gro- ceries, yet politicians in Ore- gon continue to push for a tax on grocery sales. Th is initiative will end these eff orts and oth- er future eff orts by proactively prohibiting the taxing of gro- ceries from farm-to-fork.” Th e Grocery Tax ‘Push’ Gilliam’s claim that Oregon politicians have continuously sought to impose grocery taxes echoes similar claims made by the Yes on 103 campaign and its supporters — that Oregon politicians have tried several times over the years to institute a grocery tax. Evidence for this, however, is sparse. On the Yes on 103 campaign’s website, an advertisement cites specifi c political moves as proof of such attempts. First among them is House Bill 2830 from 2017. Th is bill proposed to increase the state’s corporate income tax; however, there is no mention specifi cally of food or beverage. Th e advertisement also refers to Oregon’s Measure 97, which failed to receive a majority vote in the General Election in 2016. Th e measure would have re- moved the cap on the corporate gross sales tax — again, how- ever, with no specifi c language targeting food or groceries. Also listed as an attempt at a grocery tax is Senate Joint Resolution 18 in 2015, but gov- ernment records show that this resolution proposed to amend the Oregon Constitution in re- lation to an education support fund, wholly unrelated to food or beverage. House Bill 2330 from 2017 is also found among propo- nents’ examples of grocery tax proposals, but this bill was “re- lating to charges for electric- ity delivered to the public for electrically powered motor ve- hicles,” according to state doc- uments. Other cited attempts at the local level are Ontario’s failed Measure 23-58, a broad sales tax, and St. Helen City Coun- cil’s unanimous rejection of a proposed sweetened-beverage tax earlier this year. Th e lack of proposals to spe- cifi cally target groceries and the thematic thread of general sales taxes cited among objection- able proposals leave the im- pression that the bill’s backers are concerned mainly with an overall sales tax — not grocery tax. Still, in a KTVZ television interview, Yes on 103 campaign spokesman Dan Floyd said that the measure would prevent lawmakers from imposing a burden on the people most af- fected by grocery costs. “I think that (the opposition is) in full support of taxing your food and beverage,” he said. “Th ey believe state and local government need the money. And we understand that reve- nue is important, but we don’t think it should be a regressive tax on the people who can af- ford to pay it the least, and it shouldn’t be on your food and beverages.” Regressive as it might be, lit- tle evidence suggests that any state politicians are in favor of a grocery tax or that the needy live under its perpetual threat. Others believe the real threat lies in a subsection of the bill referring to the “corporate min- imum tax.” Corporations vs. Local Control When Oregon businesses pay taxes, they must pay the greater between two options: (1) roughly 0.1 percent of sales, known as the corporate mini- mum tax; or (2) 6.6 percent on taxable income up to $1 million or 7.6 percent over $1 million. Th e minimum tax on sales is capped at $100,000. A subsection of Measure 103 addresses the corporate min- imum tax specifi cally, stating that the prohibition against imposing taxes applies to this tax as well, eff ectively protect- ing the corporate minimum tax from future increases. Th e Yes on 103 campaign fl atly rejects that the bill is a corporate tax break on its web- site’s FAQ. However, in a December 2017 petition to place this ini- tiative on the ballot, the Oregon Attorney General’s offi ce con- sidered an objection raised by the chief petitioners of the bill. 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