A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Oregonians, not
corporations, will
pay IP 28 tax
O
regon voters in
November should think
twice before voting
for Initiative Petition 28, the
gross receipts tax measure on
the ballot.
The measure — pushed
by public employee unions,
education and healthcare
advocates and other liberal
interests — proposes Oregon’s
largest tax hike ever. It would
impose on “C” corporations
an additional 2.5 percent
tax on gross sales in Oregon
exceeding $25 million.
IP 28 would raise as
much as $3 billion a year
for the state’s general fund,
and is touted as a panacea
for unspecified spending
priorities in search of a
funding stream.
Oregonians are fond
of raising taxes that they
themselves won’t pay,
particularly if in the process
they can stick it to big,
out-of-state companies that
they say aren’t paying their
fair share. Supporters of IP
28 fondly point out that 70
percent of the companies that
would directly pay the tax
are not domiciled in Oregon,
and include big retailers, big
banks, big oil, big pharm
— big, greedy companies
carrying away Beaver State
boodle to Arkansas, Wall
Street and Moline. No
downside here.
A compelling argument, if
only it were true.
Enter Doug Hoffman,
president of farmer-owned
Wilco — one of the big
Oregon companies that will
pay the tax.
Wilco is a cooperative
set up to sell merchandise
and services at a discount to
its 3,000 farmer members.
Separately it also operates
12 retail stores in Oregon,
mostly in the Willamette
Valley, selling all comers a
wide variety of products with
a decidedly farm and ranch
bent.
Without any of the bluster
one expects from the robber
barons IP 28 means to
punish, Hoffman lays out the
company’s finances. Under
Oregon law, the $100 million
in direct sales of products
and services to members are
exempt. The $100 million in
sales at the retail stores are
not. A portion of any profit is
returned to the members.
In a good year the retail
operation has a net profit of
as much as $2.5 million. That,
coincidently, is the amount
Hoffman says Wilco will pay
in corporate income taxes if
IP 28 passes.
Because IP 28 taxes gross
receipts, not net profits, Wilco
and other businesses with
the requisite sales will pay
whether they make money
or not. Hoffman says there
have been years when sales
have been high, but the retail
business has run at a loss.
In that case, the tax bill will
come out of reserves.
Hoffman and others say
the biggest myth of this, and
every corporate tax increase,
is that regular Oregonians
won’t pay the tab. They will.
Businesses will increase
prices to cover the extra
taxes they owe and to pay
prices increased by suppliers
burdened by their own higher
taxes. They’ll cut back on
employees to reduce operating
expenses. They won’t invest
in expansions.
To facilitate its passage, IP
28 supporters have picked a
small segment of the business
to paint as unsympathetic
targets of their tax. But if
passed, Oregonians and many
of the state’s iconic brands
will fall victim.
W HERE TO W RITE
GRANT COUNTY
• Grant County Courthouse — 201
S. Humbolt St., Suite 280, Canyon City
97820. Phone: 541-575-0059. Fax: 541-
575-2248.
• Canyon City — P.O. Box 276, Canyon
City 97820. Phone: 541-575-0509. Fax:
541-575-0515. Email: tocc1862@centu-
rylink.net.
• Dayville — P.O. Box 321, Dayville
97825. Phone: 541-987-2188. Fax: 541-
987-2187. Email:dville@ortelco.net
• John Day — 450 E. Main St, John Day,
97845. Phone: 541-575-0028. Fax: 541-
575-1721. Email: cityjd@centurytel.net.
• Long Creek — P.O. Box 489, Long
Creek 97856. Phone: 541-421-3601. Fax:
541-421-3075. Email: info@cityofl ong-
creek.com.
• Monument — P.O. Box 426, Monument
97864. Phone and fax: 541-934-2025.
Email: cityofmonument@centurytel.net.
• Mt. Vernon — P.O. Box 647, Mt.
Vernon 97865. Phone: 541-932-4688. Fax:
541-932-4222. Email: cmtv@ortelco.net.
• Prairie City — P.O. Box 370, Prairie
City 97869. Phone: 541-820-3605. Fax:
820-3566. Email: pchall@ortelco.net.
• Seneca — P.O. Box 208, Seneca
97873. Phone and fax: 541-542-2161.
Email: senecaoregon@gmail.com.
SALEM
• Gov. Kate Brown, D — 254 State
Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378-
3111. Fax: 503-378-6827. Website: www.
governor.state.or.us/governor.html.
• Oregon Legislature — State Capitol,
Salem, 97310. Phone: (503) 986-1180.
Website: www. leg.state.or.us (includes
Oregon Constitution and Oregon Revised
Statutes).
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
• State Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario (Dis-
trict: 60), Room H-475, State Capitol, 900
Court St. N.E., Salem OR 97301. Phone:
503-986-1460. Email: rep.cliffbentz@state.
or.us. Website: www.leg.state.or.us/bentz/
home.htm.
• State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R — (District
30) Room S-223, State Capitol, Salem
97310. Phone: 503-986-1950. Email: sen.
tedferrioli@state.or.us. Email: TFER2@aol.
com. Phone: 541-490-6528. Website: www.
leg.state.or.us/ferrioli.
• Oregon Legislative Information —
(For updates on bills, services, capitol or
messages for legislators) — 800-332-2313.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
• The White House, 1600 Pennsylva-
nia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500;
Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switch-
board: 202-456-1414.
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart
Senate Offi ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Email:
wayne_kinney@wyden.senate.gov Website:
http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717.
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart
Senate Offi ce Building, Washington D.C.
20510?. Phone: 202-224-3753. Email:
senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-
228-3997. Oregon offi ces include One
World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St.,
Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310
S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendleton, OR
97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278-
1129. Fax: 503-326-2990.
• U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Second
District) 1404 Longworth Building, Wash-
ington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730.
No direct email because of spam. Website:
www.walden.house.gov Fax: 202-225-5774.
Medford offi ce: 14 North Central, Suite 112,
Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541-776-4646.
Fax: 541-779-0204.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Recall accusations
are vague
To the Editor:
First, we have disagreed with
County Commissioner Boyd Britton
several times during his tenure. That
said, we believe the recall against
Commissioner Britton is not in the
best interest of Grant County.
Most of the accusations are vague;
some we believe are false. We believe
the recall process serves as a valuable
tool to keep Oregon government hon-
est. It should be used objectively and
only when absolutely necessary. Cas-
es such as malfeasance and/or when a
crime has been committed are a couple
of examples; in this instance, we do
not believe this is the case.
Recalls have a tendency to breed.
They should be resorted to only after
thoughtful deliberation.
The last thing this county needs is
more turmoil and vicious rumors. The
best place to make your opinion heard
is at the ballot box in a regular election.
We urge you to vote no to recall Com-
missioner Boyd Britton.
Phil and Peggy Gray
Canyon City
‘By grace are ye
saved through faith’
To the Editor:
Russ Denton’s piece in last week’s
paper was basically a paid advertise-
ment for the old gnostic heresy, which
is a combination of Oriental theolo-
gy, Greek philosophy and Christian
doctrines. It was the greatest rival of
Christianity in its infancy and rears its
ugly head again today. Gnostics pro-
fess to have a deeper understanding or
wisdom. Despite all of his beautiful
scripture references, his conclusions
are wrong; Johnny Carson used to
say, if you buy the premise, you buy
the bit. You don’t need to know where
heaven is to go there; the thief on the
cross didn’t have a clue where it was,
only that he knew where his Savior
was and that was enough for him to
go to paradise (wherever that is). Mr.
Denton’s idea that you go to heaven
because you follow his ordinances, the
law, is faulty because no one can; we
go to heaven — or not — because of
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
on that cruel cross at Calvary and no
other way. His assertion that the “Age
of Faith” has now ended with the be-
ginning of the Age of Reason, which
is Gnosticism by defi nition, has been
refuted numerous times even in his fa-
vorite translation, the King James Ver-
sion. “By grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourself: it is the
gift of God.” — Ephesians 2:8.
Richie Colbeth
John Day
McKinley ‘a good
and honest man’
To the Editor:
I would just like to give my reasons
for deciding to vote for Todd McKin-
ley for sheriff. When Todd threw his
hat in the ring, he stated that when he
took his oath of offi ce as a peace offi -
cer that he pledged to uphold the law.
That just makes sense. Simple
right? Well, our current sheriff has
made it known that he will enforce the
laws that he deems right. Besides that
he has on social media claimed that he
is a “constitutional” sheriff, making
himself the highest authority in the
county.
Now just step back and think about
this, our current sheriff believes that
the state police, the federal marshals,
FBI, ATF and all other law enforce-
ment agencies are subservient to his
authority. I’m a senior citizen, and I
grew up believing that there are fed-
eral lawmen, state lawmen, county
sheriffs and city police and that they
worked together and enforced the law!
I have never heard in my lifetime any
of these law enforcement agencies say
they were the ultimate authority, or
that they would decide what laws they
would enforce. This ain’t Texas, the
current sheriff isn’t Judge Roy Bean
and he is not the law west of the Pecos.
I would invite all the folks that live in
our beautiful county to vote for Todd
McKinley, a good and honest man.
Oran Wyatt
John Day
‘I’ve got your back’
To the Editor:
“I’ve got your back” — a phrase
heard a lot in Grant County the last
few years. Generally spoken by the
Grant County Court and Commis-
sioner Boyd Britton. When using the
phrase who was he referring to? Al-
most exclusively it was in support of
another government agency. Harney
County Judge Steve Grasty, Malheur
National Forest Supervisor Steve Bev-
erlin or Gov. Kate Brown.
“I’ve/We’ve got your back” has
become a mantra in the County Court,
but it is only reserved for those who
play along with authority fi gures, and
those that are seen as part of the so-
cial fabric of the community. You’ve
seen how that works in last week’s
paper with Mr. Beverlin coming out to
sing the praises of Mr. Britton and his
work ethic with the Forest Service, not
much to anyone’s surprise since Mr.
Britton has told him on more than one
occasion, “We’ve got your back.”
As a public offi cial, Mr. Britton is
to remove himself from anything that
has the appearance of a confl ict of in-
terest, and he lays it out very clearly
that for the last fi ve years he has av-
eraged roughly $4,200 in payments
from the Forest Service, while they
bring forward business to the court,
that he not only votes on, but lobbies
for, all while he applies for jobs, while
lobbying the merits of Forest Service
policy. That is not “baseless.” That’s a
clear confl ict of interest. It’s just unfor-
tunate he cannot see it.
Mr. Britton is clear in his state-
ments; he does not believe Grant
County has the guts to remove him
from offi ce. He thinks he will slide
right through this. Time will tell, but
for me it’s an easy ballot cast, and it’s
a yes vote to remove him from offi ce.
John D. George
Bates
Join me in supporting
Commissioner Britton
To the Editor:
Over the 14 years that Boyd Brit-
ton has been our county commission-
er, he has made decisions that I have
defi nitely disagreed with. But several
decisions are not grounds for a recall!
The four decisions that are listed in
the recall petition are:
1. not always fi ghting road closure
discussions by the Forest Service;
2. refusal to support an additional
investigation into the Canyon Creek
Complex fi re;
3. failure to stop “Britton Welding”
from doing work for agencies in the
county;
4. misrepresenting his intentions
about attending a militia meeting Jan.
26, 2016.
When I talked to Mr. Britton about
these issues, he had very good reasons
as to why he thought his actions were
in the best interest of Grant County.
Are these four decisions reason
enough to ignore all of the hard work
that Boyd has completed to bring defi -
nite benefi ts to our county?
A similar effort in Harney County,
with a similar limited agenda, recently
tried to recall their long time county
judge. Their effort failed by 70 per-
cent!
Please join me in voting to support
Commissioner Boyd Britton’s con-
tinuing efforts to fi ght for all of Grant
County!
Mike Cosgrove
John Day
Who would replace
Commissioner Britton?
To the Editor:
Concerning the investigation of the
Canyon Creek Complex fi re, some
residents think the county’s General
Fund should pay for the investiga-
tion. Please remember that the Gen-
eral Fund supports these things: the
veterans, the seniors, the library, the
fair, the Assessor’s Offi ce, the County
Clerk’s Offi ce, the Treasurer’s Offi ce,
the Planning Commission, the airport
and many more. If the General Fund
were used to fund the investigation,
what would happen if the outcome
were contested?
Most would expect the Gener-
al Fund to continue to pay for that
also. All this could come to tens of
thousands of dollars, probably more!
Boyd Britton made a decision that
he thought best for the entire county.
Now we hear that those who started
the recall wanted to recall all three
commissioners, but didn’t because
that might lead to all three commis-
sioners being recalled. Then the state
would appoint who would be the new
commissioners. When we vote to keep
or recall Boyd, please think about this:
Who will replace him? Imagine the
pressure that will be on the remaining
commissioners to appoint the person
the recall committee wants to be ap-
pointed. I believe Boyd Britton is the
best person for the job, but whatever
your opinion, please do vote.
Jan O’Rorke
Prairie City
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