Coalition of Industry and Business Groups Protest Oregon Tax Changes

The measures are supported by Defend Oregon, which warns that the measures’ defeat could mean deep cuts in education. Proponents say the ballot measures are aimed at helping to stave off in future economic downturns the type of deep funding cuts lawmakers have had to make in the past.

Salem-News.com photo by Tim King

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Oregon Supreme Court has slightly changed ballot language for ballot measures to raise $733 million from businesses and wealthy Oregonians.

Measure 66 and Measure 67 will be on Oregon’s statewide ballot in a Jan. 26 special election.

Legal Newsline reported today that the Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday that there should be some minor changes to the ballot measure.

Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes filed a challenge to the ballot titles written by a legislative committee led by Democrats.

Legal Newsline noted that in both Measure 66 and Measure 67 there is an identical sentence: "Maintains funds currently budgeted for education, health care, public safety, other services."

Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes had asked the justices to remove the sentence. But the justices instead opted to kept the sentence while ordering that the word "maintains" be changed to "provides."

The measures are supported by Defend Oregon, which warns that the measures’ defeat could mean deep cuts in education. Proponents say the ballot measures are aimed at helping to stave off in future economic downturns the type of deep funding cuts lawmakers have had to make in the past.

Fighting their passage is Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes, a coalition of industry and business groups. They believe that the measures will cost jobs in the state.

The Legal Newsline story points to a study released last week by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States, which ranked Oregon among the 10 states in the greatest “fiscal peril.”