The Oregonian editorial board hit the nail square on its head in this Sunday’s editorial calling for “Earmarking most of the Kicker for PERS”.
It faults the Democratic leadership for not doing this because they think the public will not support them. The polls likely tell that story, but it is the responsibility of leaders to explain to the electorate what is necessary for the public good; that the PERS deficit is a shared responsibility, and that the wisest use of this windfall tax revenue is to help to reduce that deficit.
Four Democratic legislators could exercise that leadership and wisdom by giving a rebate of $100 to every taxpayer and sending the rest to PERS:
Peter Courtney and Ginny Burdick in the Senate and
Tina Kotek and Jennifer Wlliamson in the House.
Call or write these legislative leaders and your own legislators so that this action can be taken in the next final weeks of the session. Kotek has proposed using some of the money to reduce the pollution of old trucks. That is desired but not as high a priority as keeping teachers in our schools and college affordable to our citizens.
