Nice job…these are the same guys who claim to be the friends of the common man.

The politicians will never have enough of our money!!

Keep up the good work.

By JR on Dec 7, 2007

I am sick of the politicians wanting to spend OUR money…I feel like I am taxed to death and it feels good to get some back every now and again.

By Vicki on Dec 10, 2007

http://www.redstate.com/blogs/soren_dayton/2007/dec/11/or_sen_merkley_against_tax_refunds_thats_a_kicker

By freedom4all on Dec 11, 2007

My daughter working as a waitress part time while going to college paid over 1/3 of her paycheck to Oregon in taxes. When you only have a tiny paycheck for buying gas, college textbooks, and tuition, that doesn’t leave much left over for food. So, either you give her the money back, or you take it again, spend twice as much in gov’t red tape to create food stamps, and then you give it back to her. Dumb.

By MBenton on Dec 12, 2007

“The chair of the Senate Revenue Committee, Ginny Burdick, recently called the kicker “dumb,” and others like Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Speaker Jeff Merkley have lent their voices to hers. Together, they are dedicated to seeing the kicker’s demise.”

THE REASON that the Oregon Kicker law was created is rather simple. The People of Oregon, who themselves have to live within their own budget via the money THEY earn, felt that Oregon State Government should have to live within it’s budget too! A rather radical concept, isn’t it?

The bottom line with those in government who are against the Kicker is that they feel that they are above the common citizen, that they know better than the people from whom they TAKE the money how to spend that same money and for what purposes that money SHOULD be spent.

There’s another reason they want to keep YOUR money: Many politicians in Salem as well as the countless self-described “expert” bureaucrats in government have their own Socialist AND Communist agenda for Oregon and for you. These people are sometimes called “stakeholders” as well as “visionaries” who want to use taxpayer dollars to mold Oregon to their - not your - liking.

Look at the Oregon Economic Development Department. Here money, which was TAKEN from you, is given to private parties for THEIR benefit. Sure, they will say that THAT money “benefits” Oregon, but the fact remains that YOUR money was indeed given (via grants) to someone else who did not earn it.

Another way that these so-called experts TAKE your money and give it to someone else who did not earn it is via the Enterprize Zones.

Quite often a PRIVATE PARTY (or business) will apply to set up a business in an Enterprize Zone. Once the go ahead is given by government to the private party, that private party will (1) be GIVEN grant money (YOUR money) to establish the business (construction of the buildings etc) and (2) they will also be given tax exempt status for 3, 5 or more years.

What state government nor the news media will tell you is that once that business has been given tax exempt status that same state government will then raise property taxes throughout Oregon to make up for the “loss” of taxes from that business which has just been set up in that Enterprize Zone. You see, to Oregon Government the “loss” of taxes from that tax exempt Enterprize Zone business must be made up somehow…and somewhere….and that “somehow” and “somewhere” is by raising taxes on the rest of Oregon Taxpayers.

In the end, what happens is that Oregon taxpayers get to see (1) their tax dollars being given away to private parties for THEIR own benefit and (2) Oregon taxpayers get to make up for the “loss” of taxes to the state that the “new” enterprise zone business doesn’t have to pay for 3, 5, or more years. Nice scam, eh?

The Enterprize Zone scam on the Oregon Taxpayer gets better:

Many times, after a business has established itself in an Enterprize Zone and has taken advantage of the grant money (your money) and has also taken advantage of the property tax exemption for X number of years that same business will close down and move somewhere else once the tax exemption ends. Usually they move to ANOTHER Enterprize Zone either in the same state or in another state thus evading having to pay property taxes AND getting “free” grant money in the process. Nice, eh?

In case you are wondering, yes, I’ve seen it happen. Where I live a business obtained property tax exemption status for 3 years. And, they were also assisted with grant money to establish their business - to construct a large metal building. Once that 3 year period of time was up they were GONE! All that was left was the building…a rather large metal building by the way….which had to be to be torn down (with tax dollars) to make the property appealing to a prospective buyer.

When I say that the politicians in Salem and their King’s Court Bureaucrats use your money for THEIR “vision” of Oregon the above situation is exactly what I mean. They use YOUR money - WITHOUT YOUR OK - for their own “vision” of what is best for Oregon. Of course, this is at YOUR cost and without your consent.

Currently the Kicker is set up so that when the State government has collected more than 2 percent over and above what their budget was projected that money is supposed to be refunded as a kicker check.

Personally, I think that the taxpayers of this state should receive EVERY CENT of money collected over and above what the state budget is set at.

Who do they think they are to whine about wanting to keep OUR MONEY over and above what the state has budgeted?!?

Who gives them the right to keep even one penny over and above what they budgeted?!?

The only reason you will find politicians and and King’s Court Bureaucrats whining about wanting to keep YOUR money is because they think they are BETTER and SMARTER than you!

To that kind of attitude I say HOGWASH! They are no better than the average taxpayer and in many instances they are complete incompetants who should never have been put in a position of public trust!

By Les on Dec 17, 2007

Oregon is bankrupt. According to Moody’s their net-tax supported debt is up over 300% in the last 5 years; total debt is up 100% in the last 10 years. 33% of all government costs go to PERS. Each government employer, as they call it, owes millions to PERS and that is after they sold 2 Billion in Pension Bonds at the state. Refund? Get RID OF PERS. Taxes are header much higher to pay for PERS.

By Fred Starkey on Apr 15, 2008