A4
Opinion
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Legislators should
take message on
taxes to heart
O
regon voters place a
top priority on K-12
public schools but
don’t really trust the state
to tax and spend wisely
on education, new opinion
polling indicates.
Our Capital Bureau
reported earlier this month
on a poll commissioned by
the Oregon School Boards
Association. All polls,
especially those sponsored
by entities with a vested
interest in their findings,
must be viewed with
intelligent skepticism. But
the new poll results ring true.
According to the poll, 60
percent of the public believes
any new tax money should be
earmarked for state education
and should be combined with
spending cuts elsewhere.
Ironically, this mirrors what
the business community
itself has indicated it would
support. Legislators need to
take this to heart.
Oregonians are big
believers in public schools.
You don’t need a poll to
know this. Time spent in
any Oregon community or
neighborhood is a revealing
lesson in how schools are
fundamentally bound up
in our lives and our sense
of who we are as a people.
We’re united around the idea
that schools impart essential
knowledge and social skills,
partnering with families in
preparing children for lives
every parent hopes will
be financially rewarding,
intellectually gratifying and
emotionally fulfilling.
Anxiety: As our nation
and world become more
complex and demanding,
any sense that schools
aren’t fulfilling their vital
mission is certain to provoke
anxiety. While more money
is rarely, if ever, a complete
solution to any problem,
Oregonians are strongly
inclined to bolster school
funding. Ninety-three percent
of voters say it’s important
to fund K-12 education.
Nearly two-thirds would
support boosting taxes on
corporations if the proceeds
were certain to go to schools.
But the state just
overwhelmingly rejected new
corporate taxes in the form
of Ballot Measure 97. This
was despite the objective fact
that companies contribute
less to state coffers than
voters commonly believe —
less than 6 percent of general
fund revenue, by the Oregon
School Boards Association’s
reckoning, while citizens
believe the number is around
36 percent.
In rejecting Measure 97,
voters didn’t trust that new
revenue would be well spent
and feared the taxes would
be passed on to us in the
form of higher prices. And
as a matter of fact, Oregon
firms already pay a lot of
taxes — an effective rate of
7.6 percent, third highest in
the far West.
Budget gap: Faced this
year with a $1.6 billion
gap between revenue and
expenses, legislators are
Blue Mountain
EAGLE
P UBLISHED EVERY
W EDNESDAY BY
struggling to find enough
money for all the state’s
priorities, including more
for schools. A majority
of the public may say
they support targeted cuts
coupled with some tax fix,
but the devil is very much in
the details.
The Tax Foundation
this month released its
latest analysis of fiscal
burdens in the 50 states and
Washington, D.C. It found
Oregon ranks 10th in state
and local tax burden as a
percentage of state income.
It has the sixth-highest
individual income tax
collections per person in the
country, $1,814 compared
to the U.S. average of $967.
On the other hand, it is
smack in the middle in terms
of state and local property
taxes — 25th, with average
collections of $1,350, less
than the national average of
$1,462. It’s worth adding
that the Tax Foundation
gives Oregon good marks
for its current business tax
climate, rating it 10th best in
the country.
So it’s fair to say
Oregonians aren’t
undertaxed, an understanding
reflected in the continuing
strong rejection of a general
sales tax, even if it went
to education, according to
the poll. But it’s also fair to
observe that a state’s citizens
get what they pay for. Some
of lowest-tax states on the
Tax Foundation’s 2017 index
— Mississippi, Louisiana,
Alabama — aren’t models of
civic success.
Difficult choices: So what
should we do in Oregon?
Clearly, some very difficult
choices will need to be
made. Most Oregonians
want to protect and enhance
public education, but will
have to recognize that doing
so will force undesirable
cuts elsewhere. Elected
leaders and state agencies
have to embrace the same
conclusion, that it is time to
zealously root out wasteful
spending, while circling
the wagons around schools
and a few other paramount
priorities.
On the tax front, the
new polling suggests
considerable support for
dedicating 2 percent of
income tax kicker funds
to K-12 education —
particularly a rainy day fund
to see schools past budget
crises like the one they
currently face. Beyond this, a
business tax hike with strict
links to education might just
stand a chance.
Voters feel they have been
burned too many times.
State leaders must commit
to governing in accordance
with the wise words of that
favorite primary school role
model, Dr. Seuss’ Horton: “I
meant what I said and I said
what I meant. An elephant’s
faithful one hundred
percent.” Promise only what
you can reasonably achieve,
tax only enough to achieve
it and then rigorously keep
your promises.
F ROM THE P ULPIT
Join the ‘Spring Roundup’
By Bob Douglas
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Paul writes in Ephesians 2:19-
22 that the church is to be a
“building ... a home in which God
lives.” Each of us are fit together
to make up this building. Each of
us has our own place as we are
placed together as we stand on
the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.
There are times when we don’t
give the appearance of that uni-
fied “home of God’s spirit” be-
cause we are each working on the
task that God has given each of
us to accomplish. We got focused
on “doing our own thing,” and it
blinds us to the greater vision that
God has in mind. But there are
times when all the differences in
the way we serve him fade away.
The mist that clouds the unity of
God’s building is lifted, and we
can see the wonder of how God’s
spirit has put us together.
The worshiping congregations
in the greater John Day area are
celebrating this important time as
we approach Palm Sunday (April
9), Holy Week and Easter (April
16). We are working together.
We are building together. We are
worshiping Jesus Christ together.
It is called the “Spring Round-
up.” It is a series of evenings,
6:30 p.m. April 6-8, at the Grant
County Fairgrounds. There will
also be a family experience that
will take each group for an hour-
long walk through the last week
of Jesus’ life. You can begin that
“Road to the Resurrection” any
time from 1-4 p.m. Saturday,
April 8. Bring your family and
join in the fun of being on the
road with Jesus as we move to-
ward Easter!
God is moving in our commu-
nity. God is moving in the hearts
of many people. God is drawing
many people to “come closer”
and “follow me.” This is the time
when all the churches in our area
are speaking with one voice and
with one message. We are the
“home for God’s spirit.”
Bog Douglas is the pastor of
the John Day Church of the Naz-
arene.
G UEST C OMMENT
Fighting for the ‘American Dream’
budget Oregonians deserve
By Sen. Jeff Merkley
To the Blue Mountain Eagle
Growing up, my family was
like a lot of Oregon families: My
dad was a millwright, and my mom
stayed at home. At that time, a sin-
gle working income could buy a
three-bedroom ranch house, an an-
nual camping trip and a dinner out
a couple times a year.
We had enough to have faith in
the American Dream.
Life’s a lot tougher today for
working families, and rural and
small town communities are feel-
ing it most.
Life’s going to get even tougher
if the Trump administration’s re-
cent budget proposals get through.
At a time we need creative ideas
to build economic opportunity in
rural America, the new budget pro-
poses an unprecedented 26 percent
cut to the U.S. Department of Ag-
riculture, which includes the Rural
Development Agency and the U.S.
Forest Service, in addition to es-
sential agricultural programs.
This is an assault on rural com-
munities’ most basic needs. From
slashing investment in small busi-
ness growth and job creation, to
threatening access to clean drink-
ing water, to reducing funding to
prevent and fi ght wildfi res, the cut
hurts farmers, ranchers, children
and timber communities.
The Trump budget guts Pay-
ments In Lieu of Taxes — funding
for counties that have large tracts
of federal lands that don’t generate
property taxes — by $100 million
this year alone, stripping from
Oregon counties critical funding
for public safety, social services,
transportation and housing.
It decimates the community de-
velopment block grants, cutting the
$3 billion program that has been
critical to revitalizing rural Ore-
gon’s infrastructure and communi-
ty services, housing and economic
development.
The budget would eliminate
the entire $175 million Essential
Air Service program that is vital to
keep small, remote airports operat-
ing. It would dramatically defund
programs to get doctors and other
health care providers to rural com-
munities. It would end grants for
rural transportation projects, cut
off rural entrepreneurs from loans
and push huge costs onto rural wa-
ter system ratepayers.
The Trump budget even seeks a
devastating $1.3 billion cut to the
budget of the U.S. Coast Guard,
which just last weekend rescued
three Oregonians.
Millionaires and billionaires
in big cities are doing great; they
don’t need the government to in-
vest in their success. Rural com-
munities are facing unprecedented
challenges, and we need to crank
up investment in essential pro-
grams and infrastructure — that
is, the opposite of Trump’s budget
proposals.
This month I partnered with bi-
partisan colleagues in Congress to
introduce the Timber Innovation
Act, which would support Ore-
gon’s innovative uses of wood for
construction and manufacturing.
I’ve helped preserve and reopen
small airports and save small-town
post offi ces, both of which are es-
sential in today’s interconnected
economy. I’ve pushed to bring bi-
partisan sense to our wildland fi re-
fi ghting. I’ve used my position as
the ranking member of the Agricul-
ture Appropriations Subcommittee
to fi ght for research that helps our
farmers fi ght off pests and improve
their yields.
There is so much to do to move
our smaller communities forward.
But instead, this administration’s
budget is an enormous step back-
ward.
The American Dream is one of
equal opportunity for the child of
a middle-class millwright and the
child of a wealthy CEO. But this
administration’s budget takes us
even further from this most funda-
mental ideal, eviscerating the pro-
grams that create that opportunity
and level the playing fi eld in our
rural communities, where they are
needed most.
We need to move closer to the
American Dream. I will work with
the true champions for rural Amer-
ica in both parties to fi ght for the
programs that give Oregonians the
opportunity to share in the econ-
omy they help create, and ensure
future generations have the chance
to thrive.
Jeff Merkley is a United States
senator for Oregon.
L ETTERS TO THE E DITOR
Kindness from
strangers brings
me to tears
To the Editor:
On March 21, my husband and I
had gone to the Snaffl e Bit restau-
rant for dinner. It was our anniver-
Grant County’s Weekly Newspaper
P UBLISHER ............................... M ARISSA W ILLIAMS , MARISSA @ BMEAGLE . COM
E DITOR .................................... S EAN H ART , EDITOR @ BMEAGLE . COM
A DMINISTRATIVE A SSISTANT ........ J ACKIE O SBORNE , JACKIE @ BMEAGLE . COM
R EPORTER ............................... R YLAN B OGGS , RYLAN @ BMEAGLE . COM
C OMMUNITY N EWS .................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
S PORTS ................................... A NGEL C ARPENTER , ANGEL @ BMEAGLE . COM
M ARKETING R EP ....................... K IM K ELL , ADS @ BMEAGLE . COM
O FFICE M ANAGER ..................... L INDSAY B ULLOCK , OFFICE @ BMEAGLE . COM
sary, which in itself is special to us.
But this year it turned into some-
thing extra special and meaningful.
As it turned out, there was a young
couple sitting at a table next to us,
and we found out they had bought
our dinner for us. We have no idea
who this couple is, but we want to
let you know it brought me to tears
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that complete strangers could be so
thoughtful and caring. Our wishes
for the both of you to have as many
wonderful years as we have had. We
appreciate your loving kindness,
and may God bless you both.
Rich and Jan Lowry
Mt. Vernon
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