A service of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon Foundation.
By Larry Huss There are few opportunities in Oregon for a plebiscite by only those directly impacted by the decision. But this December Oregon taxpayers are going to have just such an opportunity. In December the state is required to refund to Oregon taxpayers approximately $1.1 billion dollars in excess taxes collected in 2006. Already,…
by Wayne Brady Government agencies have an uncanny ability to mess things up. In 2004, people from the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s office delivered confiscated illegal fireworks to the Marion County garbage-burning plant in Brooks. The Fire Marshall failed to let the people at the Brooks facility the explosive nature of the material they delivered.…
By Larry Huss There is a recession looming and Oregon is, once again, ill prepared to deal with it. No, I’m not an economist or a market analyst, or, for that matter, I didn’t even stay at a Holiday Inn Express. But a friend of mine, Jim Stack, President of Investech and a nationally know…
By Jim Karlock We all know that Portland planners just hate sprawl. But just what is sprawl and what does it look like? An online search turned up several definitions of sprawl, all centered around the idea that if it is low density or you have to have a car, it is sprawl. Additional criteria…
by Richard Leonetti The Oregon Legislature has managed to thumb their noses at simple, obvious needs of the people. They are spending $254 million on a new light rail line to Milwaukie (which also needs $500 mil from the Feds–not us either?) and almost nothing on the roads most people use. Another $102 million of…
by Tim Lyman Every once in a while we are granted the opportunity to see just how big an mistake a bureaucrat can make. Unfortunately, these opportunities always come at the expense of citizens. Roy Elicker, director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, provides the latest example. Six years ago Franchesca Mantei and…
By Steve Schopp Nearly 8 years ago, the media reported “there is no more clear illustration of our ability to meet the needs of growth than our failure to address our transportation needs. Within the transportation arena we are facing utter chaos.” Since that time the taxpayers have spent around $10 billion in the state…
By Jason Coutts Oregon taxpayers are currently overpaying, to the tune of triple the cost, for police dogs. Further, the State uses, misuses, or bypasses the rules to shut-out local private canine small businesses. A citizen’s investigation into the matter reveals that the State gives false or misleading information in order to cover the misconduct.…
by Tim Lyman “Healthy Kids” is an incremental step towards socialized medicine and a future fiscal and healthcare disaster on many levels. Whatever model is adopted for “Healthy Kids” will be the model for complete socialized medicine in Oregon. The current argument among Republicans seems to be simply over how to pay for it (or…
by Jason Williams Well today is the day that postage rates increase by 2-cents. It came to no surprise that when I went to pick up the new postcard stamps last Friday that the new postcard stamps were not in. This is the same problem I encountered when they raised post rates last time. Their…