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TexasTowelie

(116,508 posts)
Fri Jul 15, 2016, 10:40 PM Jul 2016

Voter's pamphlet won't detail how Oregon would spend money from a major corporate tax measure

SALEM — The language used in the November voter's pamphlet for a major corporate tax measure will list the billions of dollars it would raise, but not offer details about how lawmakers would spend the money.

There's other key information that didn't make the cut Monday, as a group called the Financial Estimate Committee decided what to include in the November voter's pamphlet. How the measure could impact job growth and Oregonians' pocketbooks won't be a part of it, according to a draft impact statement written by the committee.

After the draft was released Monday, supporters and opponents of the measure focused on the description of how the state would spend the money. The campaign in favor of the measure said the committee should have been more specific about how the state would spend the tax revenue, while the opposition campaign said there is no guarantee how lawmakers will spend the money and the explanation in the pamphlet over promises what lawmakers are required to do.

The ballot measure, currently known as Initiative Petition 28, would raise an estimated $3 billion in new revenue annually, according to an analysis by economists in the Legislative Revenue Office. It would do so by taxing certain corporations a 2.5 percent tax on their gross annual sales in Oregon above $25 million.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/voters_pamphlet_wont_detail_ho.html

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Voter's pamphlet won't detail how Oregon would spend money from a major corporate tax measure (Original Post) TexasTowelie Jul 2016 OP
i don't know why details are expected for revenue going into the general fund 0rganism Jul 2016 #1
Precisely. Well said. n/t TonyPDX Jul 2016 #2

0rganism

(24,606 posts)
1. i don't know why details are expected for revenue going into the general fund
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 11:15 AM
Jul 2016

from what i've seen, this is not a dedicated tax-to-priority path like THC-to-education, so why do we need to know exactly what the money will be spent on?

who knows what the long-term future holds? maybe that big earthquake hits and we have to allocate millions of dollars to rebuilding infrastructure? or maybe the haters are right, and it all goes to PERS? i don't know, that's one reason why we have legislators, they vote on how to spend the money. Democracy.

of course, now that this new "enumerate your expenses in advance" idea is being pushed by the media, the ballot measure (and all similar general fund increases) will likely fail, regardless of what the state could accomplish with the revenue.

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