Murmurs: Initiative Seeks to Reroute Climate Tax to Cops

INITIATIVE SEEKS TO REROUTE CLIMATE TAX TO COPS: A ballot initiative backed by the Portland Police Association would reroute 25% of revenue from the Portland Clean Energy Fund tax to hire 400 additional police officers. Backers of the initiative, including Big Pink’s new owner Jeff Swickard, will seek to place it on the November 2026 ballot. To do so would require 40,437 signatures—or 9% of the total number of registered voters in the city. “This initiative is critical to give Portlanders the number of police they need and the safety they deserve,” Aaron Schmautz, president of the police union, said in a statement. Should the initiative move forward, it is sure to be deeply controversial. Backed by progressive social justice groups and climate advocates in 2018, the PCEF tax is a first-of-its-kind tax that imposes a 1% sales tax on large retailers operating in Portland. The revenue goes toward creating jobs for people of color to build infrastructure that can withstand the effects of climate change. In recent years, city leaders have mined the fund, which has brought in higher than expected revenues, to backfill budget deficits in bureaus with climate-related projects. The move generated great controversy at the time, meaning that a police union–backed attempt to reroute a portion of the fund is sure to leave PCEF supporters irate. City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney tells WW she disapproves. “We should not be diverting these voter-approved funds to unrelated budget needs.”

BLACK STUDENT CENTER INCURS NEW COSTS IN REPORT: Portland Public Schools leaders are conducting due diligence for a North Portland home for the Center for Black Student Excellence. Voters dedicated $60 million in 2020 school bond funds to the center, which is meant to improve academic outcomes for the district’s Black students through community partners and culturally specific curriculum (though the district has stressed that all students will be allowed to use the building). PPS officials have zeroed in on One North, a development in the Humboldt neighborhood, as a space for the center. A feasibility report made public Nov. 10 offers the first detailed glimpse into what programming at the development would look like, and shows the district would have to spend handsomely on top of the $16 million purchase price to make needed upgrades to the building. Programming plans for the CBSE reveal the center would be much more than a space for academics, with early promises of event spaces, a commercial kitchen, and family wellness program built into its design. The report also says the district would need to spend a lot more to bring the building up to code, meeting stricter seismic, wind and snow load requirements. A spokesperson for PPS told The Oregonian on Nov. 10 that those additional costs would add $21 million to $25 million to the project. PPS has also long hoped that rent from tenants at One North could sustain the building’s operational expenses. The feasibility report finds the building generated $465,111 in income in 2024 while operating expenses were $736,494. That means the district would have had to invest $271,383 that year to make up the difference. “It is highly recommended to retain existing tenants and consolidate CBSE functions within specific floor plates to maintain flexibility for potential future rentable spaces,” the report reads.

OREGON PLUNGES IN TAX FAIRNESS RANKINGS: No state has fallen further in terms of tax competitiveness than Oregon in the past six years, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, boardroom-friendly think tank that has studied U.S. taxes for 88 years. Since July 1, 2019, the Beaver State has fallen from eighth to 35th in the foundation’s State Tax Competitiveness Index, mostly because lawmakers that year passed a corporate activity tax to fund public schools. The swoon in ratings comes amid a heated debate over taxes, especially in Portland, where special levies for homeless services and preschool make marginal rates among the highest in the nation. Oregon levies the CAT on individuals and businesses that have more than $1 million in business receipts, with some exceptions, including gas, groceries, and the “sale of fluid milk by dairy farmers that are not members of an agricultural cooperative.” The CAT compounds “tax pyramiding,” which happens when a good is taxed multiple times as it’s produced, the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation said. Firms with longer supply chains pay higher taxes, which the think tank says is unfair. In contrast with Oregon, Tennessee rose the most in terms of tax fairness, going from 38th to eighth. Overall, Wyoming has the most competitive tax structure, the foundation said, because it doesn’t tax individual or corporate income. But states that tax income, sales and property can score well if the taxes are rational. “The Wyoming model may not be possible in some states—but the Idaho, Indiana, and North Carolina models are,” the foundation says. Those states rank in the top 13 even though they impose all the major taxes, because rates are moderate and the structure is sound. “A well-structured tax code won’t make the Wyoming Basin a metropolis, nor will poor tax structure make Manhattan a ghost town,” the Tax Foundation said. “But tax structure does play a role in a state’s economic successes or failures, and often a substantial one. Every state can benefit from a simple, neutral, transparent, pro-growth tax structure.”

NATION’S TOP COURT WILL CONSIDER BALLOT DEADLINE: On Nov. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case from Mississippi that challenges the counting of ballots received after election day. Oregon is one of at least 19 states that allows the practice. In 2021, lawmakers passed House Bill 3291, which expanded voting laws to allow elections officials to count any ballot postmarked by election day, provided it arrives at an elections office within seven days after the election. Led by President Donald Trump, Republicans have advanced various strategies for restricting or eliminating mail-in ballots. The case in front of the Supreme Court is likely to turn on whether federal election law trumps state laws. Oregon and 18 other states filed an amicus brief in support of state control. “The Republican National Committee is trying to stop ballots from being counted after Election Day because they think it will help them win,” said Oregon’s top elections official, Secretary of State Tobias Read. “These are legal ballots cast by citizens by the deadline. All of the security and anti-fraud protocols that were in place on Election Day still apply. The only thing this flexibility does is make sure more citizens get to hold politicians accountable.” Separately, a Douglas County Circuit Court case challenging Oregon’s vote-by-mail system continues to move slowly, as the parties battle over discovery requests. No trial data has been set. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Mississippi case sometime next year, well in advance of the November election.