We are near the end of the 2009 legislative session.  This is when budget bills finally begin to move as well as controversial items such as tax increases.
 
By the time we finish, legislators will vote on four tax increase bills totaling about $1.6 billion dollars (this does not include the millions of dollars in fee increases we have already passed).
 
The four main tax packages are:
 
HB 2001: Increases the gas tax by 6 cents and license/registration fees to pay for transportation projects including roads/highway expansions and airport upgrades.  Total: $600 million.  We could have funded this much needed transportation package without tax and fee increases (explained below).
 
HB 2116: Tax increases on large hospitals and private insurance premiums to pay for expansions in government-provided health insurance as well as increased government regulation within the health care industry (details).  Total: $304 million. This tax will increase the cost of your monthly health insurance premiums.  Interestingly, health tax supporters claim the funds will be used to provide health insurance to 80,000 low-income children in Oregon. However, 60,000 of those children are already eligible for government-provided health insurance.
 
HB 2649 & HB 3405: Tax increases on high-income earners, corporations, and small business owners. Total: $733 million.  Our Legislative Fiscal Office projects that HB 2649 & HB 3405 will result in the elimination of about 5,800 private-sector jobs in Oregon.  This state already has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation.
 
I will be voting against all four tax packages.  Here's why:

1. According to recent estimates, Oregon State government will spend about $2 billion more in the next biennium.  You read that right.  The All Funds Budget will go from $48 billion to about $50 billion. This is a 4% increase in state spending while Oregonians have lost more than $10 billion in income. (see a budget history chart here)
   
   
2. Along with some of my colleagues, I outlined a Back-to-Basics Budget for legislative leadership that would have avoided cuts to schools and other budgets with some additional spending to address human services caseload increases.  That budget identified more than $1 billion in agency "Ending Fund Balances" as well as costs savings available right now.
   
   
3. Most public employee unions have not accepted a total wage freeze.  Many of my constituents are public employees and I want them to receive fair compensation.  However, unemployment in Oregon is currently 12% and more than 250,000 Oregonians have no jobs. Many private sector workers are facing pay freezes or cuts.  Under these extremely difficult economic conditions, it is not appropriate for any public employee to be receiving a pay raise of any kind.
   
   
4. The Governor's Office of Economic Analysis estimates that (without these tax increases) income tax revenue collected from Oregon taxpayers will grow from $13,659 million to $19,075 million over the next six years--a 40% increase!

VIDEO: I spoke out on the House Floor against the business and personal income tax increases.

 

As a freshman legislator I have been deeply disappointed to learn how your hard-earned money is treated here in Salem.

 

There's still a great deal left for us to do: streamlining government, prioritizing services and eliminating wasteful spending practices.  Instead of addressing these imperatives, it appears that legislative leadership intends to enact budget cuts on our most vulnerable citizens: the disabled, medically fragile senior citizens, and public school children.
 
Legislators who vote against the tax increases will be cast as heartless.
 
Take my word for this:These cuts are totally and absolutely unnecessary.