Earlier this month, I intended to write about something important to me personally, but which I admit is certainly not very significant in the big picture of things.
Well, news is not always predictable and I didn’t get there because bigger stuff was happening locally.
My topic was going to be a petition being circulated that aims to repeal the state permit fees that were slapped on paddle-boarders and flatwater kayakers by this year’s Oregon legislature.
The move was reported by an Oregon Journalism Project story we posted on Aug. 1 (www.sweethomenews.com/ballot-initiative-seeks-to-repeal-new-permit-fees-on-standup-paddleboards-and-kayaks), where you can read all about it.
I intended to use that as a launching point to discuss the incessant chiseling of money out of Oregonians by our legislature and bureaucracies, always seeking to provide us more “services” but always demanding more money to get it done, moving us steadily up the ranks of Americans who pay the highest taxes.
But now is not the time to talk about the boat fee deal, because it is just a splash compared to a much bigger storm brewing in Salem, namely the issue of funding the Oregon Department of Transportation.
I don’t have space here to thoroughly review the ins and outs of the ODOT crisis – OJP has produced a number of really good explanations of the situation, including faithful reporting of what knowledgeable critics of the agency have to say.
Let me also note here that when I talk about ODOT, I’m not pointing to the folks who run the snowplows and fix the roads. They don’t make the decisions on how to use the billions of dollars the agency has gotten in recent years.
For those with fuzzy memories, ODOT is now struggling with a $350 million deficit. Despite a super-majority of Democrats in the legislature’s long session, which ended June 27, they were unable to get a bill passed to take care of that problem, even after they’d scaled it down from some $15.5 billion over 10 years to $2 billion. It failed.
The governor, citing a “budget gap” that needs a “funding solution,” has called the special session this Friday, Aug. 29, to try to attempt to hike Oregon’s gas tax by six cents and increase vehicle fees (by $42) and title fees (by $139).
Oregon’s gas tax is already 40 cents per gallon as of Jan. 1, 2024 – the 10th-highest in the nation.
And that’s not all. Though our state is predominantly rural, geographically, our cost of living is 41st in the nation (that’s the high end), behind California, New York, most of the small northeastern states whose political affiliations are about like ours, Hawaii (No. 1) and Alaska, which are both understandable because of their locations.
Housing, health and transportation are what push us to the top.
Our state and local tax bills are the 18th-highest in the nation (nearly $7,000 per capita) according to taxfoundation.org. Other indexes, including the U.S. Census Bureau, show similar numbers. Funny thing is, in 1980 and 2000, Oregon wasn’t even in the top 24, according to the Census Bureau.
Even after the Democrats won a supermajority in 2004, it wasn’t until 2018 that Oregon cracked the top 24 in taxation (23rd). By 2023, seven years later, we were 14th. That’s a steep climb.
So back to ODOT and the special session: Now the powers that be in Salem want us to backfill ODOT, which critics accuse of mismanagement, flawed accountability and fiscal irresponsibility. (You can read a lot more about that in the Oregon Journalism Reports posted under the OJP button at sweethomenews.com.)
Cascade Research Council, an admittedly conservative policy think tank in Portland, has pointed out that revenue from fuel taxes and fees reached record highs in 2024, continuing a trend of “record revenue” from motor fuels taxes, titling and registration of vehicles, driver’s license fees, business license fees, charges for service and other sales income.
The problem is money management, or lack thereof. But correcting that doesn’t appear to be in Democratic leaders’ range of vision.
One of Kotek’s strategies has been to threaten to cut staffing for on-the-ground services, the everyday stuff we need, like plowing snow and fixing highways, targeting key maintenance facilities like Sweet Home and Detroit.
She has, of course, delayed those cuts until she sees what happens with this special session, whether lawmakers can give her a new funding plan.
Some attribute the fact that the transportation bill failed in June to poor leadership. But could it be possible that legislators might be realizing that the populace can only take so much?
So far, too many voters seem to be like frogs in the frying pan, cheerfully going along with the positive patter and smooth sleight-of-hand that keeps us moving up the tax ladder. But will they at some point realize they’re in hot water, personally?
Here’s some advice from the ground floor: Wisdom involves listening to opposing opinions, to critics. Healthy debate is a check on folly, but minority Republicans say they’re basically ignored when they propose alternatives to the plans promoted by leadership, such as using state emergency funds to fill necessary revenue gaps. It’s clear that the top brass, anyway, have not been listening to the sensible suggestions coming from informed critics.
It’s going to be interesting to watch what happens and how we citizens respond. The best way is at the ballot box.