Oregon votes for socialism. New legislation will punish producers.
Oregon voters approved new taxes on businesses and those making above $250,000 a year (or $125,000 if you are single).
The LA Times reported:
Facing a budget crunch that threatened to close schools early, lay off teachers and slash healthcare benefits, Oregon voters ended two decades of tax scrimping Tuesday by approving higher taxes on corporations and wealthy families.
The two ballot measures passed handily in a referendum watched closely around the country as a signal of whether voters are ready to approve targeted tax hikes to bail out cash-starved state treasuries.
Oregon voters since 1990 have limited property taxes, rejected sales taxes and vetoed across-the-board income taxes. But with 87% of the ballots counted, the measure to raise income taxes on households earning more than $250,000 a year, and individuals earning more than $125,000, was winning with 54.1%. A second measure to raise the state’s corporate income tax was ahead with 53.6%.
Business leaders had fought the measures, arguing that they would drive away entrepreneurs and force struggling businesses to slash jobs.
The two measures would raise more than $700 million to help close a gap in the state budget that at one point reached $4 billion.
We’ll see how this plays out in a few years… or less.
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