U.S. Chamber critical of Obama overseas tax plans

“There is nothing ‘patriotic’ about politicians bullying America’s job creators for legally trying to level the playing field. Instead of focusing on soundbites, Washington should do its job and comprehensively reform the tax code.”
Read more at Oregon Business Report Read More......

Paying by the Mile

Drivers of hybrid and electric cars enjoy lots of benefits. They can feel good that they’re churning out a lot less carbon. Their energy costs are lower. And they don’t have to pay as much as they once did for the state’s roads. That support is paid primarily through the gas tax. When you don’t stop at the pump, you don’t have to pay.

But what’s been good for the environment has been bad for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Read more at Willamette Week

Read More......

Dem proposes taxing drivers by the mile

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) on Tuesday reintroduced legislation that would require the government to study the most practical ways of taxing drivers based on how far they drive, in order to help fund federal highway programs. Blumenauer's bill, H.R. 3638, would set up a Road Usage Fee Pilot Program, which he said would study mileage-based fee systems. He cast his bill as a long-term solution for funding highway programs, and proposed it along with a shorter-term plan to nearly double the gas tax, from 18.4 cents to 33.4 cents per gallon.  "As we extend the gas tax, we must also think about how to replace it with something more sustainable," Blumenauer said Tuesday. "The best candidate would be the vehicle mile traveled fee being explored by pilot projects in Oregon and implemented there on a voluntary basis next year."

Read more at The Hill Read More......

FOX: Oregon launching new program to tax drivers per mile

(Hat tip: Linda Bartcher) - Oregon is moving ahead with a controversial plan to tax motorists based on the number of miles they drive as opposed to the amount of fuel they consume, raising myriad concerns about cost and privacy. ✧ The program, springing out of a recently signed bill, is expected to launch in 2015 on a volunteer basis. But it’s charting relatively new territory, and other states aching for additional tax revenue are sure to be watching closely to see whether to imitate the model. Read more at Fox News...

(Hat tip: Kristie Hernandez) - See video with Neil Cavuto on Fox Business Read More......

Senate votes to kill Obamacare medical device tax

The Senate on Thursday voted to repeal a sales tax on medical devices that is part of President Obama’s health-care law, a rare bipartisan attempt to strip away a section of the controversial reforms. ✧ Sens. Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican, and Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Democrat, led the amendment, which passed on a 79-20 vote during debate over the chamber’s budget plan for the coming fiscal year. Read more at the Washington Times... Read More......

How Reagan Was Compromised

A politician who leads with compromise is like a prizefighter who leads with his chin. If you’re in a real fight, you’re not going to last long.

Some months ago, “compromise” was one of most popular words in political discourse. But the calls for compromise were suspiciously unidirectional.

Read more at Forbes Read More......

Corvallis bag ban & tax survey

OREGON CATALYST, 3/17/2012 by In the news - Hilex Poly

The Corvallis City Council is considering installing a ban and tax on all shopping bags, both paper and plastic. In exploring options, the City Council has asked for comments from the public in this survey. ✧ Please take a few moments and let the Corvallis City Council know your thoughts on bag bans and taxes on shopping bags. ✧ Hilex believes that the answer lies within common sense legislation that preserves Oregon’s manufacturing and recycling jobs, rather than increasing costs for local residents.  Despite misconceptions, plastic bags are 100% recyclable and made in the U.S., using domestic natural gas and support American jobs.

Read More......

Calculate your share of Federal Budget items

FOX News has once again put up their "It's All Your Money Tax Calculator" so you can figure out how much a particular budget item will cost you. You're invited to vote whether you approve or disapprove of the budget item. The topic up now is:

Name: Non-Defense Energy Programs
Cost: $12,092,471,000*
Description: Obama's FY2012 budget includes $12.1 billion in spending on non-defense energy projects, boosting spending on clean energy programs and energy research. His 2012 budget includes $3.2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs (a 44% increase over current spending levels), $5.4 billion for research and development at the Office of Science (a 9% increase), and $550 million for the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (a 41% increase). Spending on fossil energy is cut 45%.
*Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy

Read More......

Tax Levy 02-74 Discussed at City Club

CORVALLIS TIDBITS, 4/11/2011 - "Monday April 11th the Corvallis City Club hosted a forum on the proposed tax Levy, measure 02-74, scheduled for a vote on May 17, 2011. John Detweiler, statistician and former candidate for Corvallis City Council presented the case for voting no on Measure 02-74. Karyle Butcher, Corvallis Budget Commission member and retired Oregon State University Librarian, presented the case for voting yes on Measure 02-74." Read more at Corvallis TidBits...

John Detweiler spoke at the Benton County AFP Special Community Meeting tonight and he will repeat his presentation for the Benton County Republican Women on Monday, April 25th. Read More......

Detweiler offers more on the Corvallis levy (02-74)

Research and letter by John H. Detweiler - submitted to the Corvallis Gazette-Times 3/21/2011 (Published by the GT on 3/25/2011 as Letter: Passing city’s levy won’t solve Corvallis’ real fiscal problems.

The levy that will appear on the May ballot will not solve our budget problems. Local households and local business cannot support our local government. Therefore we must reduce costs. Personnel costs, amounting to 55% of current costs, are good place to start.

The mean total compensation (salary and benefits) per full time equivalent for the FY 10-11 budget year is $100,000. In five years, the mean total compensation has gone from $80,000 to $100,000. The total salary and benefits increases over this period are: 5.29% and 7.44% per year respectively.

In 2008, the ratios of Corvallis employee salary to Corvallis citizen salary and Salem government worker salary were 1.57 and 1.31 respectively -- higher than I had thought they would be. The notion in setting pay rates is to pay sufficient compensation to attract and retain qualified competent employees. The total package does not have to be excessive.

Negotiations need to be conducted with our unions to constrain and reduce total compensation. And, if we have to take a strike, so be it. If reasonable contracts cannot be worked out, we can contract with private business to perform the commercially oriented functions and lay off employees - foregoing their services -- we can't afford. Details and the sources of these numbers can be found at www.peak.org/~detweij.

This levy, and the ones that will be required in the future if we don't get our costs under control, will not solve our budget problems. Join thinking citizens in voting against this levy.

John H. Detweiler
Corvallis
www.peak.org/~detweij

Read More......

Re: Corvallis Levy

Research and letter by John H. Detweiler (submitted to the Corvallis Gazette-Times 3/13/2011)

The levy that will appear on the May ballot funds the lower priority items but not the highest priority items. If the levy passes, we will fund: the Osborn Aquatic Center - the service with the lowest priority, the Senior Center - part of the Parks and Recreation Department which has a priority just above the Aquatic Center, some social services, and marginal cuts in library services - which have a priority just above Park and Recreation.

On page III-13 of the Financial Plans, given to the Budget Commission, shows that the ending budget fund balance is a negative $3.1M. On the reduction possibilities-matrix, also given to the Budget Commission, there are three groups of services -- A-Levy services, B-Remaining Order of Magnitude Packages, and C-Alternate Order of Magnitude Packages -- listed in the order, by group, which they would be cut.

The property tax fund amounts for group A, group B, and group C are $1.8M, $1.0M, and $1.6M respectively. The first two groups (A&B) will be cut for total of $2.8M and $0.3M cut from the third group (C).

If the levy passes, the cuts contained in group A will be restored but the cuts contained in groups B and C will not be restored. Groups B and C include cuts to the fire and police departments - the services with the highest priority.

My analysis of priorities is based on the 2010 Citizens Attitude Study and the survey conducted by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall and can be found at www.peak.org/~detweij.

John H. Detweiler
Corvallis
www.peak.org/~detweij

Read More......

Feb. 23: Benton County Stormwater Meeting

How does the rain that falls in Benton County lead to pollution in the Willamette River? The problem is not the rain, but pollutants in the ground it falls on, and the Benton County code is being updated to address this issue. ∴ The county is planning a public meeting – scheduled from 7 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library meeting room – to focus on the updates to the county code, which are designed to improve water quality through local erosion control and some “post construction” stormwater management requirements. Read more at The Benton County Website

Read More......

Labor leaders irate over proposed health care 'Cadillac' tax

FOXNews.com, 1/11/2010 by Major Garrett - Irate Labor Leaders Press Obama on Proposed Health Care 'Cadillac' Tax - WASHINGTON: "President Obama told labor leaders in a tense two-hour closed door tussle over whether to tax health care benefits that he backed the tax, which labor leaders vehemently oppose, but also supports efforts "to protect working men and women." ∴ Their problem? Labor leaders say you can't have it both ways. Some now openly accuse Obama of doing that and violating one of his most important early promises in the health care debate: that if you like the coverage you have, you will be able to keep it." Read more at FOX... Read More......

Tax may add 1% to medical premiums

If you live in Oregon and have individual or employer-based health insurance, you'll likely see a 1 percent increase in your premium this month, courtesy of the Oregon Legislature. Read more at Oregon Statesman... Read More......

Letter: Sen. Wyden is slippery as a greased pig on health care reform

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES/LETTERS, 10/16/2009 by Jean Nelson - Holding Sen. Ron Wyden responsible for his vote is like trying to hold on to a greased pig at a carnival booth. Wyden is a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, and he voted Wednesday (Oct. 14) in favor of health care legislation that he has sharply criticized for weeks.

After Wyden's vote, he made a carefully scripted statement that basically said, "I'm for it, but I'm against it," trying not to be responsible for his decision.

Wyden's vote put his stamp of approval on a huge tax increase that limits the deductibility of medical expenses on income taxes. He voted to tax the sick by raising the threshold for deducting medical expenses from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of one's Adjusted Gross Income as long as the taxpayer is under 65.

Moving according to a pre-arranged plan, now Harry Reid is merging all the health care bills behind closed doors. In a rush to push their version of "health care reform" through Congress, Democrats are ignoring surveys that say that the public wants to take their time and work the bugs out of any changes.

The Senate Finance Committee and the House Tri-Committee are estimating a price tag of around a mere $1 trillion, give or take a few billion dollars for their versions of health care reform. Honest interpretation shows all the bills are fatally flawed and will bring us high costs, government takeover, huge tax increases, major unfunded expansions in Medicaid and major cuts to Medicare.

Jean Nelson, Corvallis

(See 'COMMENTS' to this article in the G-T) Read More......

Oregon: Tax Petitions now available online

Concerned Oregonians: Citizens across the state are hard at work gathering signatures to refer the two massive job-killing tax increases to the ballot and we are having a great response. If you haven't signed the petitions yet, please go to http://www.myafpor.org/. Read More......

Kulongoski signs tax bills

PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL, 7/20.2009 - By signing three new bills, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski may have ensured that Oregon voters will face a January ballot measure that pits businesses against unions and higher-end consumers. Read more at the Business Journal... Read More......

Palin Op Ed: The 'Cap And Tax' Dead End

WASHINGTON POST, 7/14/2009 by Sarah Palin - There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs. Our nation's debt is unsustainable, and the federal government's reach into the private sector is unprecedented. Read more at the Washington Post...

Hat tip: John Detweiler
John writes, "Sarah has got it right. But we won't realize that until after Cap and Trade/Tax is in place." Read More......

THE INFLUENCE GAME: New drink tax widely opposed

WASHINGTON (AP) - A push for new taxes on soda, beer and wine to help pay for Americans' health care is stirring up more than just the beverage industry. Read more at Breitbart...

Nanny state. Read More......

Obama's Tax Increases

GRASSFIRE.ORG - Obama Budget Tax Increases: $1.6 Trillion and Counting (revised 2/26/09)

'Change' has come to America's top income earners. Read More......