Tax The Rich In Oregon?

I think many are following these ballot measures.     While I applaud the expansion of the corporate tax, I am not comfortable with calling someone who makes $125,00o rich.    Still I think this is a gutsy undertaking by Oregon, and will be interested to see how it plays out.

On Tuesday, voters here and across Oregon will have the chance to make that happen when they decide the fate of two ballot measures that would raise taxes on higher-income residents and on businesses to help pay for public education and other services. Known as Measures 66 and 67, the votes are referendums on $727 million in tax and fee increases that were approved last year by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Yet if the measures pass, it will probably not be because of support here in largely conservative southwest Oregon. Too many times the state has proposed too many taxes, many residents here say, and this is no exception, never mind the school troubles.

Instead, experts say, if the measures pass it will be because Oregon lawmakers found a way to narrowly focus a tax increase that more liberal parts of the state could tolerate, even at a time when a tax increase could not be harder to digest.

What happens here may be closely watched elsewhere. While tax increases are probably coming in plenty of other states, most by executive or legislative action, Oregon will be the first this year to ask voters to raise taxes on themselves — or at least on some of themselves.

Supporters, led by teachers and public employees’ unions, point out that the income tax increase affects less than 3 percent of the population: individuals who earn more than $125,000 a year. They say the state’s wealthier residents should pay more to help those with less. They also say that state businesses enjoy a relatively low tax burden and that most small businesses will pay only $140 more in fees.