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Editorial:
Vote "Yes" on Measures 66 & 67
The hole in the Oregon state budget is growing and although other states have “rainy-day” funds to tap into, our Legislature rejected this option.
The alternative, Measures 66 and 67, are designed to help shrink this hole and make sure that education, health care and public safety will still get the funding that was allotted to them in the state budget.
If both measures receive a yes vote, Measure 66 would raise taxes on households with incomes at and above $250,000 ($125,000 for individuals) and reduce income taxes on unemployment benefits in 2010. Measure 67 would raise the $10 minimum business tax and corporate business tax to maintain funds currently budgeted for education, health care, public safety and other services.
The proposed tax hikes in Measures 66 and 67 are for people who can afford these increased taxes. If the tax increases were falling on the shoulders of people who are struggling to pay their bills now and would have to cut back even more, it would be a different story. But that’s not what’s happening here.
If there is a no-vote on these measures, this will significantly change the budget of MHCC. MHCC President John Sygielski wrote a message on the MHCC portal saying that if the measures fail, the impact to the college’s financial health is both significant and long-term. It means that MHCC, in 2010, would have to cut between $1.26 million and $2.83 million before this fiscal year ends in June. In the 2010-11 fiscal year, the budget will need to be reduced by $925,386 to $1,871,734. These figures represent a significant cut.
With a significant cut like this in the MHCC budget, that would mean that either students are going to pay more in tuition, instructors are going to lose their jobs or there will no longer be as many federal work-study programs available for students. Perhaps all these things will happen to relieve the MHCC budget.
People opposed to the tax hike say it will create more unemployment. But if business taxes kill jobs, then how is it that Oregon collects the nation’s fourth-lowest percentage of its revenue in business taxes and when the national unemployment level sits at 10 percent, Oregon’s unemployment rate is at 11.1 percent?
A yes vote would secure jobs on the college campus and MHCC would continue to keep the funding that was outlined in the state budget. We encourage all readers to get their ballots in by Jan. 26 and vote yes on Measures 66 and 67.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.