What’s happening south of our state line is enough to make the likes of Tim Eyman, as well as a number of thwarted Washington Democrats, green with envy.
On Monday, Oregon legislators wrapped up a session – marked by their bracing refusal to let policy ambitions bow to the economy – that has left the state ripe for a tax revolt. Business leaders announced last week that they plan to spend big to defeat $733 million in tax hikes.
Eyman might wish for some of that mojo. As the perennial tax-cut hawker’s annual appointment with the secretary of state’s office draws near today, it’s looking like he’ll cross the finish line huffing and puffing, if at all.
He’s mortgaged his house. He also recently complained that the secretary of state’s office isn’t staying open on Friday’s government holiday to give signature gatherers one more day to come up with the 300,000 or so signatures required to make the ballot.
It’s clear that Eyman’s rhetoric – “Huge levy increases, skyrocketing valuation increases, massive rate hikes. It’s obscene and unsustainable” – is simply ringing hollow with a good segment of the voting public. One big reason: The tried and true bogeyman of state government hasn’t stoked the usual outrage.
The Legislature seriously considered raising taxes to help cover a $9 billion shortfall, but eventually deferred to an unreceptive public. To liberal advocacy groups, lawmakers’ decision to cut its way out of the hole was a failure to respond to a severe crisis. For many others, it was a hard-knocks budget befitting the times.
Oregon’s Legislature is a case study in the opposite tack. Lawmakers approved more than $1 billion in new taxes while vastly expanding health care programs and launching some of the state’s most expensive construction campaigns.
They shot down Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s entreaties to leave a healthier reserve as a hedge against future economic perils. They thumbed their noses at the business community’s efforts to work out a tax compromise, even as Oregon’s unemployment rate soared.
The Oregonian’s editorial board dubbed it the year of governing dangerously. Democrats, blessed by the same overwhelming majorities their counterparts in Washington enjoy, had their chance to dominate state government. And, for better or worse, they took it.
Washington Democrats who bemoaned their caucuses’ lack of “vision” can now watch Oregon’s brand of progressive politics play out from a safe distance. Politicians there may have averted the immediate pain of a no-new-taxes budget, but a taxpayer rebuke could easily make the victory a temporary one at best.
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