One summer’s day, a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An ant passed by, carrying with great toil an ear of corn to its nest.
“Why not play,” said the grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”
“I am laying up food for the winter,” said the ant, “and recommend you do the same.”
“Why bother about winter?” said the grasshopper. “We have plenty of food at present.”
We all know the ending. When winter comes the grasshopper starves because of its short-sightedness.
Aesop’s fable of the ant and the grasshopper reminds us of the tax measures on the November ballot. Measures 86, 91, 93 and 8 would all make unwise tax policy a part of the Oregon Constitution and threaten higher education funding. They treat our booming economy like the grasshopper: There’s plenty of money right now, so let’s cut taxes and limit the state’s ability to plan and invest wisely in the future.
Well, guess what? As we saw from Monday’s heavy rain, winter is coming. And if we tie our hands now, state services will suffer through the dreary, wet winter — when it comes.
Measure 86 enshrines the state’s “kicker” law in the Constitution. The kicker law says that when actual taxes collected exceed the state’s estimates, the extra taxes are returned to taxpayers. This can be a good thing; it acts as a check on the legislature so they don’t underestimate and spend the extra money for special interest projects. But this is already the current law. If we write it into the state constitution, our legislators can’t react when the state needs extra funds. This is bad planning that takes our current boom for granted.
Measure 91 is appealing. Currently, Oregonians can only deduct $3,000 of their federal tax liability from their state income taxes. Measure 91 would allow a deduction of the entire federal tax liability. Initially, this sounds fair. But this change cuts state revenues, to the tune of $800 million a year, without offering any replacement. And the majority of the savings goes to large businesses, which have already benefited greatly as a result of our strong economy — and plenty of tax cuts in the last 20 years. According to the state’s Legislative Revenue Office, in 1979, businesses shared the tax burden with individuals in Oregon equally. By 1998, businesses were only paying 39 percent of the state’s bills. It isn’t fair to hand successful corporations a big tax break at the expense of the state — especially at the expense of education. A good school system is crucial to our economy. Measure 91 is poor fiscal policy.
Measure 93 treats politics incredibly naively. Sponsored by Bill Sizemore, the same man responsible for Measure 91 and a grasshopper of the highest order, Measure 93 would make voters approve all “new or increased taxes, fees or charges proposed by state and local governments, unless exempted.” There are few exemptions. The vast majority of fee increases — like hairdresser license fees and photocopy charges at the county courthouse — would need to be approved by voters. Ahh, grasshopper, this is why we elect lawmakers. If we’re that cynical about our representatives, then we had better vote for someone different or completely change our form of government. This constitutional amendment is foolish, and would tie the hands of government agencies to levy taxes and collect fees for the services they provide.
Measure 8 poses a real danger, by arbitrarily reducing spending. It would limit the state’s two-year spending plans to 15 percent of Oregonians’ total personal income in the prior two years. Oregon currently spends about 18 percent of our prior personal income. This change would cut funding by nearly $3 billion per year, some of which would have to come out of higher education. Given the current summer of abundance in Oregon, we should be thinking of investing some money in our future. If businesses operated on the same strict rule (this measure would also be written into our constitution, unchangeable by our lawmakers), major capital investments wouldn’t occur. Oregon deserves investment in its future.
All of these measures treat taxpayers as though their only concern is simple greed about the size of their paycheck. But most taxpayers aren’t so concerned with reducing taxes. Recent polls conducted by The Center on Policy Attitudes, The Washington Post and ABC News show that only 20 percent of Americans want to cut taxes. The rest of us want to use our combined wealth to improve our country and save for later.
Measures 86, 91, 93 and 8 threaten the future of higher education and the future of our state. Vote no on these constitutional amendments that chirp and sing all summer long, without a thought for the cold, rainy winter ahead.