Rep. Brent Barton, D-Oregon City, introduced House Bill 2315, a measure to set aside tax revenue into a couple of
reserve accounts against future “rainy days” to stabilize schools and social
services. This is a common sense measure; any financial entity – household,
state, multi-national conglomerate – should have a mechanism and a piggy bank
for accumulating reserves. The only reason
not to support such a bill was voiced by Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ontario, who correctly observed that the
measure was an “incremental approach to a much broader problem.”
You can have a well-oiled machine for directing revenue and a
shiny, stainless steel vault for collecting it. If the revenue stream is inadequate to begin
with, it really won’t make much difference.
You can tinker with the deck chairs or the too-few lifeboats. You’re still going down on the Titanic.
Oregonians have been stunningly successful with their generation-long
“tax revolt.” But in the words of an
ancient and revered cartoon character, “We have met the enemy and he is
us.” It is time to clean up the carnage
from that anti-civil war. Let’s start with
a tax base that is sufficient to fund services at a sustainable level.
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