Thinking Winter as an Oregon Heat Wave Arrives!

Not silence.  

 

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/07/tax_opponents_ready_to_launch.html 

 

No need for despair!  Summer is for social change through fun conversations – county fairs, barbecues, outside concerts. Plenty of festive occasions to talk with (vs. at) our neighbors/families/co-workers about banking in pro-community institutions, projects to feed the hungry though food banks and community gardens, and questions that get people talking about how they see:

 

  The community functioning right now – how is that safety net, the schools etc – is the funding enough?

 

These are genuine questions to pose as we think through a People’s Economy (something that requires a lot of real thinking).  These questions are also more than idle chit chat – they build relationships while they make us smarter (Do we really know how to fix the world?) and they might just expand the thinking of others.

 

On Monday, Governor Kulongoski signed two bills, HB 2649 and HB 3405.  (Links to full text of bills below.)  They include three basic tax increases:  corporate minimum tax and income tax for businesses (3405) and income tax on highest earning individuals (2649).  These would raise an estimated $733 million/year.

 

The 2009 legislative tax victories are being challenged by the same ‘pals of Mannix et al’ that challenge so much for so long.  (Never forget that one of Mannix’s first policy proposals was to outlaw turkey basters to insure that women couldn’t self-inseminate – a proposal from someone with not enough to worry about, eh?)  The opposition is "Oregonians Against Job-Killing  Taxes" – includes the usual suspects (FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity).  They’ve raised about $200K and have  hired Kevin Mannix to gather signatures. 

If they gather signatures and qualify by mid-September, the election would be January 26th.  They are moving fast and so ‘Decline to Sign’ should be a phrase we are singing at al moments!  Our Oregon is using "greed vs. need" as a current soundbite.

If these veto referendums pass, it could fuel Mannix’s second run for governor.  

 

Let’s keep celebrating a strong legislative session by anticipating the challenges and starting conversations now – and yes, it can be at a fun barbeque conversation.

 

warmly, Marcy