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Oregon voters push for tax hike to fund schools
By Bill Schneider
(CNN) -- In Washington this week, the White House is celebrating a tax cut. But at the other end of the country, many voters are celebrating a tax hike. Celebrating a tax hike? Can that be true? Yes. And it can also be the political Play of the Week. In January, Oregon voters turned down a statewide tax increase. Because public schools in Oregon are funded mostly by the state, that left the schools in desperate shape. "We've lost reading teachers, music teachers [and] honors programs," an Oregon resident said. Portland teachers agreed to work 10 days without pay. But Portland-area schools still faced cuts of up to 17 more school days. The plight of Oregon schools made the "Doonesbury'' comic strip and showed students not too unhappy at the prospect of 17 fewer school days. But parents had a little different reaction. "You have to educate your kids. You can't have a bunch of dumb kids running around," one Multnomah County voter said. On Tuesday, voters of Multnomah County, which includes Portland, defied the state and voted to impose a county income tax. Portland Mayor Vera Katz proclaimed, "We need to take matters into our own hands because Salem has refused to act. And today, we did it!" Fifty-five percent of registered voters turned out, and 58 percent of them voted for the tax hike ... many of them to make a statement. "Everybody else's taxes are too low, and mine is always too high. Everyone else makes too much money, and my wages are never high enough. It's like, that kind of thinking, I find it un-American," another Multnomah county voter said. The Multnomah County chair was exultant. "We can avoid the prospect of immediate, massive teacher layoffs," Diane Linn said. Happy activists marched to the governor's office. And the kids? Believe it or not, they were grateful. "Just because the state won't support you, we will still support you. It means a lot when we have adults say that to us," said Johnell Bell, a student at Benson High School in Portland. It means enough to win the political Play of the Week. The federal government's cutting taxes. But many states around the country are having to raise taxes. The feds giveth, and the states taketh away. And there is nothing new under the sun.
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