Yogi Berra Said It Best

I read an email from Governor John Kitzhaber to his supporters.  It was an appeal for you to sign a petition.  As a signer you would declare that you were “in for schools”.  Your message to your legislators would be,

It’s time to get real about what our kids need to have a chance at successful lives. To do that, we have to put education ahead of politics. Let’s stand together in support of a reasonable proposal to improve school funding.

I have a bad feeling about this.  It is summed up best by giants far more eloquent than I.  Mark Twain said, "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”  Yogi Berra said, "It's deja vu all over again."

In June, Governor Kitzhaber and the Oregonian petulantly thumped State Senator Chris Edwards for voting with the Republicans to defeat a potential “grand bargain.”  Edwards contended that the “fix” would not restore the schools in his district.  This was a reasonable criticism since the touted goal was to gain more funding for schools.  A big source of the funding would be through “savings” from PERS (Public Employee Retirement System).  “Savings” in this context means pension benefit cuts to present and future public employee retirees.

Having dodged a bullet in June, many may have reason to be a little gun shy at the prospect of another shot at a “grand bargain” between the Governor and the Republicans in the state legislature.  PERS members are trying desperately to scrape the target off their back.

The state of Oregon is starved for revenue.  The only ones who disagree with that would be the Grover Norquist true-believers who would shrink government to the size where you could “drown it in a bathtub”. 

What are legitimate and likely sources for revenue?  Wait, first assume that you want “to put education ahead of politics” and that you want to “stand together in support of a reasonable proposal to improve school funding.”  So on these terms, further cuts to schools must be off the table as a revenue source.  There are other things that the state spends money on that could be cannibalized for funds:  prisons, human services including nutrition and public health, public safety, salaries or work days of state workers, pensions of state workers, etc.  There are federal sources – like grants, O & C payments, SNAP (food stamp) benefits; unfortunately, many of these are under threat, most immediately by the Sequester.

Cuts are – or at least they were back in June - an essential part of the big compromise, the so-called “grand bargain” to get everyone on the same page about state revenue and spending. So the easiest target, whichever that may be, is certainly in line for cuts to square the circle of this “grand bargain.”  

Governor Kitzhaber reminds us that “new revenue” (taxes) is another possible source of replenishment for state revenue.  This could include closing tax loopholes to corporations to restore lost revenue from those giveaways.  It might include eliminating preferential tax policies available only to the wealthy – an example of this in state and federal taxation is a reduced rate on capital gains. 

More actively it could be raising corporate tax rates to support the schools so they could provide the workplace skills that the business community says they miss in their new-applicant pool.  It could mean restructuring the full range of tax sources so that the system is truly progressive in its aggregate effect. It could mean raising taxes on those who can afford to pay them.

“New revenue sources” has an encouraging ring to it.  I’d like to see it.  All I'm seeing are cuts, more cuts and the victimization of the many to cut the tax bill of the few.