The State of Oregon is required to return money to the tax payers, in addition to any refunds they may have earned, if the taxes collected is greater than two percent of the official estimated revenues.
The voters of Oregon approved this after 1979. The politicians have rued that day ever since. They have whined, pleaded and threatened cataclysmic events if the ‘kick-back’ wasn’t eliminated. Now they want to establish a ‘rainy day fund’ by keeping about one-half of the mandated refund. The politicians want to keep the money to stabilize the amounts the government can spend.
This proposal was brought forward by two Oregon state senators: Frank Morse and Ginny Burdick. My family and his family are from the same town in the Willamette Valley. I feel I know Frank and believe I can trust his motives. I don’t know Ginny, and don’t trust her – she’s Democrat, after all (my bias is obvious). Ginny and her party have been in the power in the legislature and governorship for the last several decades – and as one editorial put it “government spending … ballooned”. It didn’t matter if the times were good or were bad, the spending ballooned. It didn’t matter whether the tax revenue was above or below estimate, spending ballooned. It didn’t matter if the government had the money or not, spending ballooned.
The basic problem we have with the politicians is they can’t be trusted to live within our means, or budgets. Knowing the revenues were going to be down in a down economy they still spent the money. We have learned that those we are supposed to trust have proved otherwise. We are not being represented – we are being ruled.
It will always be a rainy day – always. The Legislature will not limit spending - have they so far? Both Morse and Burdick noted the Legislature chooses to spend money, even if it isn’t there. This is especially troubling when they set up programs that cannot be supported. The state needs to limit spending – it needs to be locked into the Oregon Constitution, but that is for a different discussion.
The voters, if we get the opportunity, should tell them ‘NO!” To quote a commercial, “It’s my money, and I want it now!” The only way to keep the state of Oregon from spending us into oblivion is to keep them from getting the funds – and replace the spend-thrifts with responsible legislators.
