COMMENTARY

February 4, 2004

Deja vu for Oregon's tax increase advocates

Will Washington lawmakers follow suit?

Oregon's tax advocates must feel a lot like Bill Murray in the movie "Groundhog Day," with election outcomes the same one time as they were the time before. By a margin of 59-41, Oregon voters said "no" yesterday to Measure 30, an $800 million "temporary" income tax increase proposal. This follows on the heels of a similar "no" vote for Measure 28 a year before.

This creates a problem for Oregon lawmakers who have already spent the money. Many are wailing about having no alternatives but to cut services to the most vulnerable citizens in the state.

The argument that the sky is falling is hollow. Oregon legislators should follow the lead of their colleagues in Iowa and elsewhere who are holding meetings to determine government's principal objectives before spending money. This prevents irresponsible budget cutting. As was demonstrated in 2003 in our state, Governor Locke's Priorities of Government budget model allowed lawmakers to come close to living within the forecasted revenue and prioritize all state spending accordingly.

This year Washington lawmakers have another decision to make: Will they cut spending this year to head off a projected billion dollar plus deficit in 2005, or will they continue spending and force the next legislative body to clean up the mess? So far legislators have been quoted as saying there's nothing they can do this year to reduce spending, so they will keep spending and hope the economy improves enough to get the next legislature out of trouble. The Forecast Council recently released results indicating such a rosy scenario is highly unlikely. Still, they persist. So much for leadership!

Our neighbors to the south, Oregon and California, got in a lot of trouble by borrowing on an uncertain future. It seems we should be beneficiaries of learning from their mistakes. This is a perfect time to aggressively pursue the Priorities of Government model, not run away from it. For every new dollar we spend, a corresponding reduction must be made to a lower budget priority.

Murray's character in "Groundhog Day" eventually realized the errors of his ways and reformed, waking up to a brand new day. Maybe state tax-and-spenders will come to the same epiphany. One can only hope.

Contact: Jason Mercier | Budget Research Analyst | 360.956.3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org