WHAT THEY ARE

• Measure 66 is the referral to the voters of HB 2649 which was the target of our referendum petition 301.
• Measure 67 is the referral to the voters of HB 3405 which was the target of our referendum petition 302.

Each measure presents the question to the voters: Shall this bill be enacted?

MEASURE 66:

This measure, if enacted, would increase the amount of personal income tax due from high end earners. It is “tax the rich” pure and simple.

It raises the tax on individual earnings in excess of $125,000 from 7.5% to 10.8%.

It raises the tax on individual earnings in excess of $250,000 from 7.5% to 11%.

It will be the highest personal income tax rate in the nation.

According to AFP data, there will be some 32,000 Oregonians directly impacted.

A huge percentage of those high end personal income earners are sole proprietors.

QUESTIONS:

Will these taxpayers pass the increased costs to their consumers/clients?

• Will this tax rate attract entrepreneurs to invest in Oregon?
• Will this tax rate induce small business operators to relocate outside Oregon?
• Is it a good idea to raise taxes during an economic downturn?

MEASURE 67:

This measure, if enacted, would establish an alternative minimum tax due from corporations, “s” corporations and partnerships doing business in Oregon.

It establishes a minimum income tax of $150 per year on “S” corporations and partnerships.

It establishes an alternative sales tax liability if a corporation’s income tax liability does not exceed the value of that alternative sales tax liability.

The amount of the alternative sales tax liability is 1/10 of 1% of the total sales of the taxpayer in this state during the tax year.

The particular sales tax liability applies regardless of whether the particular goods sold have been subjected to the same tax anywhere else in the production/marketing chain,

Point: an incorporated rancher if he failed to show a profit for the year would have to pay the tax on the cattle he sold to the meat processor. The incorporated meat processor, if he failed to show a profit for the year, would have to pay the tax on the processed meat he sold to the wholesaler. The incorporated wholesaler, if he failed to show an adequate profit for the year, would have to pay the tax on the same meat he sold to the retailer. The incorporated retailer, if he failed to show a profit for the year, would have to pay the same tax on the same meat he sold to the ultimate consumer.

The alternative sales tax liability will apply to the tax year beginning January 1, 2009.

QUESTIONS:

• Is it a good idea to burden a business that is not making a profit with an additional tax liability?
• How will the corporation which does not know its ultimate profitability and tax liability for the coming year factor in this expense in its pricing for the year?
• Will not a corporation necessarily have to factor the cost into its pricing even though it may not ultimately have any liability?
• If so, will not the tax liability potential provoke nothing but unnecessary price inflation?
• Will the tax burden unfairly those corporations that deal in high ticket items?
• Once implemented who will end up paying the money to pay these sales taxes?
• Will this unpredictable tax liability induce entrepreneurs in invest in Oregon?
• Is it a good idea to raise taxes during an economic downturn?

BOTTOM LINE:

Will these measures, if enacted, cost Oregon jobs?

For the Week That Wasn’t

It being Thanksgiving Week, nothing exciting was planned for activities. But we all know how that goes. If you want to hear God laugh, tell him you have a plan.

We have been for a number of weeks lobbying our Board of County Commissioners here in Josephine County over two issues. A long standing push has been to get the County to engage in the legal process known as “coordination” with the feds regarding the use of our federal forests. We are of course in favor of sustainable harvests. The enviros are not.

Then last week our Senators Wyden and Merkley and Representative DeFazio without notice sent a letter to the heads of Agriculture and the Interior asking for a moratorium on mining on an additional 34,000 acres of public land in the county. We lobbied the Board for an official letter to the same departments denouncing th request of the Oregon delegation.

Monday afternoon, we received word that both issues were set for decision today at 10:45 am. Also
we were made aware that the enviros had launched an e-mail campaign supporting the mining withdrawal. E-mail was being received from Seattle, the Sacramento Delta, Brookings, Ashland, and Talent – with lots of unknowns.

We did a flash blast in response and our people overwhelmed the other campaign. At the hearing we out numbered the proponents four to one.

Two important speakers appeared for the enviros. A spokesman for the Siskiyou Project presented a very cogent argument full of alleged facts. Fortunately we had our experts present who put the record straight. A spokesman from the Social Justice Alliance opined that jobs are not really a problem if the government would only take all the wealth from those that have any and use it to provide what is needed by those who would simply enjoy nature. We all realized that is the whole problem but we left it alone.

We won by votes of 2 to 1. The County is renouncing the Wyden plan and is implementing a plan of mandatory “coordination” by the BLM and USFS.

For a week that was supposed to be a zero, we scored two important wins.

Tell me this isn’t all about grass roots.

Jack

URGENT NOTICE: PLEASE CONTACT ALL OUR FEDERAL LEGISLATORS – WYDEN – DEFAZIO – WALDEN – MERKELY – NOW!! THE CRUCIAL VOTE ON HEALTH CARE WILL BE SATURDAY. TELL THEM “NO” WE DON’T WANT IT. WE CAN’T AFFORD IT. USE PHONE OR E-MAIL. IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE SO ALREADY – SHAME ON YOU. IF YOU HAVE, DO IT AGAIN. WE CANNOT LET UP COMING DOWN TO THE WIRE.

The meeting last week involved a lot of discussion regarding the 11/7 Chapter Coordinators’ Meeting in Eugene and our disappointment with AFP direction on the proposed challenge to the Transportation Act.

This was an excellent learning experience for us and drove home the importance in a grass roots undertaking of adequate planning and coordination. It became apparent that among our urban chapters there is an absence of understanding of the rural chapters’ complaint against the compact and densification imperative in state land use regulation. We found this reasonable. One who lives in a city probably doesn’t understand why those who don’t, don’t want to.

Again, most chapters were apparently unaware of the extent to which wrangling over the compensation involved in paid solicitor campaigns led to the delays which ultimately doomed Petition 304. The significance that the same actors in those disputes are now heading up the new effort was lost upon the folks in Eugene.

It was an excellent lesson in the futility of shooting from the hip.

We had discussion of the importance of the coming campaign to defeat the new personal income tax rates and the value added tax on struggling corporations. These will be Measures 66 and 67. We garnered sites for field signs and established a team for installation.

Jack advised the group of the progress of the various Measure 37 litigations. The situation has not changed. The state courts are committed to the support of the state and consistently avoid the Constitutional issues.

Ron Glynn talked about the threat of Cap and Tax. Jean Sweat talked about the urgent need to put pressure on our legislators to defeat Health Care Reform.

Jack read a letter written by Wyden, Merkley, and DeFazio to the directors of the Dept of Agriculture and Interior calling for the removal of 44,000 acres from the 1872 Mining Act and defacto establishment of an additional wilderness area in JoCo.

There was discussion of coming events: the Wyden TownHall, a meeting with Allen Alley, and the planned protest at the Al Gore event in Portland.

It was decided that there would be no meeting on 11/26.

On 9/12, the Josephine County chapter of Americans for Prosperity held a Tea Party in Grants Pass, Oregon. There were ten speakers and two singers at the event. This 3-part program shows the highlights.

In Part 1, Linda Anderson sings the national anthem and Pastor Tony Russo delivers the invocation. Then Jack Swift tells us our legislators ignored the first Tea Parties, but we can get their attention (at least in Oregon) by closing the checkbook. Jack Brown explains the importance of electing representatives who understand fiscal responsibility and respect the Constitution. 14-year old Taylor Rose follows up with a song she wrote with her father about our soldiers serving overseas.

In Part 2, Margaret Goodwin tells us we cannot have a sound economy without production, which is being stifled by overregulation and punitive taxation, Jean Sweat talks about the flaws in the healthcare plan proposed by the current administration, and Jim Frick demands that the government allow us to utilize our natural resources, which provide employment for our local communities.

In Part 3, Damon Mancuso cautions us about the risks of a Constitutional Convention, Jon Lesh tels us how to get involved and make a difference at the local level, Bill Ertel explains the four new tax bills passed by the Oregon state legislature, and Paul Walter discusses the differences between living in a communist society and a free society. Jack Swift closes the rally and sums it al up.

On April 15, Americans for Prosperity sponsored a TEA Party in Grants Pass. 1200 people from all over Southern Oregon and Northern California gathered to send a message to our government that we have had enough!

We don’t want any new taxing, spending, borrowing, stimulus packages, bailouts, or government takeovers. We have enough restrictive regulations driving industries off shore. Enough redistribution of wealth. What we want from the government is to get out of the way! And we, the People, will get the economy going again by increasing production at home.

Obviously, the government didn’t pay attention. Right here in Oregon, the state legislature passed four new tax bills in the last session! This time, we’ll get their attention by closing the checkbook on them. Government can’t expand without our money. If we cut off their allowance, you can believe they’ll sit up and take notice.

There will be petitions at the Tea Party, demanding the new taxes be put on the ballot. Let the voters decide, — not the legislature.

Please join us on Saturday, 9/12, at the Josephine County Courthouse from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Our theme this time around is Starve the Beast!

This is the second half of a one hour program that examines the types of minerals found in Oregon, their importance to our economy and in our daily lives, and the impacts of state and federal regulations and land withdrawals on the mining industry. (The first half is posted here.)

In Part 4, an ex-Navy SEAL who has been instrumental in developing the suction dredge technology for placer mining in river beds talks about the environmentalists’ litigation against mining and the recently passed law that bans suction dredging in California. Then the state geologist from the Josephine County office of the Dept. of Geology and Mineral Industries discusses how the Dept. of Geology assists miners, and we learn that it is being shut down.

In Part 5, we visit a minig camp where a miner lives with his wife and three children. Then we meet a miner who’s family developed a process for smelting a nickel ladderite ore into a “master metal” from which any grade of stainless steel can be easily produced. He has spent 17 years fighting legal battles to be allowed to mine his claim.

In Part 6, we learn about aggregate mining, and how important it is to our economy. Then we learn more about the endless litigation tactics employed by the environmental lobbies, and how they manage to manipulate both the courts and government agencies at great cost to the mining industry and the taxpayers.

In the last legislative session, the Oregon state legislature passed a number of new taxes, which Governor Kulongoski subsequently signed into law. Because we have a referendum process in Oregon, if we get enough signatures on petitions, we can refer these taxes to the voters and give the citizens the final say in whether to raise our taxes, rather than leaving it up to the legislature and the governor.

There are four petitions in circulation, calling for referendums the four most eggregious new tax bills.

• Petition #301:   HB 2649 increases the personal income tax rate for people earning over $125,000 per year. This will give Oregon the highest top income tax rate of any state in the country.
• Petition #302:   HB 3405 will increase business taxes, and will tax gross receipts of all corporate entites (including S corporations), regardless of whether they make any profit. This tax will undoubtedly result in more small businesses having to shut down or move out of state.
• Petition #303:   HB 2116 assesses a 1% tax on all healthcare premiums, which will be passed on directly to consumers.
• Petition #304:   HB 2001 increases the gasoline tax from 24 cents per gallon to 30 cents per gallon, — a 25% increase. it also mandates new land use regulations designed to reduce greenhouse gases…

PLEASE NOTE: You can only sign a petition if you are a registered voter in Oregon, and received a ballot in the last election at your current address, (or, if you moved since the last election, if you have re-registered at your current address).

Please DO NOT sign any petition more than once. You cannot sign a single-signer (downloaded) petition if you have already signed a petition for the same referendum in person, or vice versa. We do recommend signing all four petitions, however. If you have already signed the first two petitions (personal income tax and corporate/business tax), then you can use the single-signer petitions to sign the other two (healtcare tax and transportation/gas tax).

DOWNLOAD PETITIONS

If you have NOT already signed these petitions, you can now download single-signer petitions for each of these bills, sign them, and mail them to:

AFP-Oregon
7100 SW Hampton, Suite 201
Tigard, OR 97223

To download the first two petitions (personal income tax and corporate/business tax), Click Here.

To download the second two petitions (healthcare tax and gas tax/transportation bill), Click Here.

Please be sure to read the instructions thoroughly.

If you would like to circulate petitions and gather signatures from friends, family, and co-workers, or volunteer to gather signatures from the public, please contact us to get a petition packet and more information.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at your local chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

This is the first half of a one-hour program that examines the mining industry in Southern Oregon. (The second half hour of this program will be posted next month.)

In the first segment, a gold miner shows us the adit of a gold mine in Josephine County, Oregon, where there’s still plenty of gold in the ground but the challenge is getting it out. He also shows us one of the best places for gold panning along the Rogue River, but cautions about running afoul of the new regulations. Then a retired state geologist discusses the different types of minerals found in Southern Oregon, and why it’s so difficult for miners to extract them.

In the second segment, we visit the Dawg Mining SummerFest and learn about highbanking and gold panning. Then we visit the site of one of the largest and highest grade silica deposits west of the Rocky Mountains, and learn why it’s taken 24 years to get to the point where the owner of the claim has any hope of mining it.

In the third segment, a gold miner shows us the reclamation project he implemented at a gold mining site in Golden, Oregon, where he established a wetlands with eleven ponds, providing habitat for fish and wildlife and trails for recreation. Then the former owner of the largest mining shop in the US discusses mining and mining regulations, and their impact on the local economy.

These three videos make up the second half hour of a one-hour program that looks at how responsible forest management is important for healthy forests, and examines the negative impact of federal regulation and environmental litigation on the timber industry and on local economies in rural Oregon.

The first episode focused on the people working in the forests and sawmills. This episode includes interviews with people from county, state, and federal forestry agencies.

In Part 4, the Josephine County Forestry Supervisor hoots for a spotted owl and explains the impact of federal regulations on county forestry practices. Then, the retired Director of Forestry in Josephine County talks about the Biscuit fire and how current federal forest practices leave our forests vulnerable to an even more catastrophic fire.

In Part 5, a retired Timber Program Manager with U.S. Forest Service talks about the programs that were funded by timber revenue on federal lands, and the impacts of environmental litigation on those programs. A former County Commissioner discusses the economic and social impacts of the decline of the timber industry on Jackson County, Oregon.

In Part 6, a District Protection Planner for the Oregon Department of Forestry talks about a balanced approach to timber management. Then the Executive Vice President of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association shows us the demolition of the last remaining sawmill in Jackson County, and discusses what it means and why it didn’t have to happen.

The Josephine County chapter of Americans for Prosperity will be giving away copies of the Costitution and Declaration of Indepenence at the Josepehine County fairgrounds on July 4th, from 7:00-9:00 PM, before the fireworks display. We have 300 copies to give away on a first come, first served basis.

Happy 4th of July! Remember, this is the day we celebrate the birth of our nation, and all the rights and freedoms we enjoy as American citizens. Come get your free pocket copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. (And don’t forget to read them!)