February 06, 2003
City and County Working Towards Tax
A pair of stories to pass along on the City of Portland and Multnomah County working towards a local income tax to fund schools, police, and social services.
First up, Tuesday's Portland Tribune examines the likely strings attached to any such temporary tax:
The tax concept is being pushed as local school districts struggle with state budget cuts, and as the Portland district faces a $50 million budget deficit that could lead to five weeks being cut from this year's school year.
But the city and county leaders, along with education advocates who back the payroll tax idea, say any extra local money for schools should come with conditions -- including that school districts spend the money only in certain ways, and that schools show results in how the money helps educate children.
And today's Oregonian discusses the conversations between city and county:
Although the proposals differ in means, they all reflect distrust of the Legislature's willingness or ability to find money to roll back local cuts.
Portland Mayor Vera Katz and Diane Linn, chairwoman of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, said they will convene a group to study several tax proposals with an eye toward reaching a joint city-county plan by the end of March.
Other ideas include a reformed business income tax in Multnomah County and proposed payroll tax surcharges on businesses.
"We need to look at each idea pretty hard to come to some conclusions," Linn said. "We want to make sure that what we recommend is good public policy."
These efforts were mentioned during a stop at City Hall by today's student general strike, about which I will have more later. The various proposals, of course, are being mulled in the wake of the failure of Measure 28 -- which passed here in Portland and in Multnomah County, giving supporters the sense that voters here would back the idea.
The county can institute such a tax by a vote of its Board of Supervisors. Portland, however, would have to refer such a hike directly to voters.