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The threat of legislation banning Multnomah County from collecting the Preschool for All tax died June 27 with the end of the legislative session. The argument between Gov. Tina Kotek and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson over the tax’s future? That’s just starting (“Save the Whales,” WW, June 25). Kotek wants the tax scaled back, and the universal preschool initiative folded into existing state programs. Otherwise, she warns, one local measure could erode the state’s tax base. Vega Pederson says that’s a betrayal of the will of the voters to please some fat cats. Judging from the online discourse, finding a middle ground will be difficult. Here’s what our readers had to say:
ECP, via Bluesky: “The other day I thought, ‘Hmm, I haven’t heard anything about Tina Kotek lately,’ and it turns out that she’s been apparently spending her time trying to punish children because rich people want more money.”
Seth Caddy, via Bluesky: “Kotek’s eagerness to cater to the wealthy who don’t want to pay their fair share is a liability to Oregon.
“This is why it needs to be made clear she’s no progressive.
“If she can’t do the practical and pragmatic things that voters wanted she needs to be ousted by a real progressive.”
TheRightToDream, via Reddit: “Eighty percent of the revenue coming from people making $500K-plus per year? I’m all for eating the rich, but this is just poor fucking math if the program can’t function without these whales remaining in the county. If your plan hinges on a handful of residents not moving the one mile across county lines to escape your tax, that’s just a pants-on-head dumbass plan.”
Omnichord, via Reddit: “It’s interesting because that core Democratic Socialists of America policy group views wealth similar to a natural resource that can be extracted, like if Multnomah County was sitting on top of an oil field or something. You just drill the well/pass the tax and then do with the resource what you will.
“The issue, of course, is that when a tax is at a county or even state level, that resource can just move. It’s one thing to do this in NYC where there is a massive cultural apparatus that does basically geographically bound the wealth to an area. Like people will never not want to live on the Upper West Side and be patrons at the Met Opera, so there is some friction. But here if you live in Dunthorpe or whatever, you may as well just move to Lake O.”
High Rant District, via wweek.com: “Is the PFA tax the specific thing pushing higher earners with the means to move away to actually move away? I doubt it, but it’s likely one of many financial factors. It’s all the taxes that pile on one after another. At some point, you have to pick away at some of them. It’s a balancing act. For what it’s worth, an internet search claims that the highest 5% of income earners pay 43% of the net in-state personal income taxes in Oregon. We can cry class warfare and pay your-fair share all we want, but the reality is that we need the income tax that high earners in Oregon pay.
“If tax contributors keep moving away and tax consumers keep moving in, at some point we have to move to an austerity budget at the state level.”
Nick Caleb, via Bluesky: “This article has a lot of inside baseball politics but completely ignores what Kotek just stirred up among unions and advocacy organizations.
“If Kotek wants to press this again, she might be facing an early end to her political career.
“People are furious, and we are done with this bullshit.
“It’s kinda wild to present this as primarily a conflict between Kotek and JVP without even bothering to imagine that beneficiaries of the program would rise up to defend it.”
GOLIKEHELLMACHINE, via Bluesky: “Kotek’s continued own goals on this are really frustrating because she’s not wrong that the implementation has been poor, but trying to go about killing it in this way and for these reasons is pretty wild political malpractice.
“Like, the implementation—at every level—really does suck! That’s true! Just leave it at that!”
SOMETHING IN THE ORANGE
To answer the question on the front page [“Where should Oregon stand up to Donald Trump?” WW, June 18], 2016 would have been a good place to “stop Trump.” 2020 was even better, with a sympathetic president to help. Always best to stop bad things BEFORE they happen...
How to stop him? In the Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, the part which controls who gets to be president.
Any particular reason why the left did NOTHING for eight years? This makes them as responsible for Trump as anyone who voted for him.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Curtis Bryant
North Portland
CORRECTION
A June 25 story on the Portland Children’s Levy incorrectly listed the size of a grants package rejected by the City Council. It was $65 million, not $70.9 million. WW regrets the error.
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