A half a dozen active Tax Fairness Oregon volunteers attended the Rebooting Democracy conference; it is a biannual, multi-issue, public-interest confab that is put on by our friends at the Bus Project.
We were particularly excited that a proposal to create a Rainy Day Fund, pitched by the Oregon Business Council, won third place in the “shovel ready” political project contest.
One problem with the Oregon budget is simple. “We don’t save money in good times to prepare for the bad,” says the Oregon Business Council Project Coordinator Jeremy Rogers, who pitched the idea that the state should kick its tax return “kicker” into a state rainy-day fund rather than back to taxpayers. When times were good in 2007, the state gave $1.2 billion back to taxpayers, only to have to turn around and face a budget hole of $1.4 billion in 2009.
Activists pledged volunteer time and money to push for reforms to the kicker that will bring much-needed stability to our revenue system.
We are confident the creation of a Rainy Day Fund will be an important issue in the 2010 elections. Stay tuned for ways you can get involved in this crucial movement.