Organized in Oregon

But now Oregon has given us an important new data point. They just did what everyone said was impossible. They handily won a statewide referendum that raised state taxes on corporations, and on families earning more than $250,000 a year.

Even as I type these words I have trouble believing it actually happened. At least subliminally, I had bought the notion that most Americans hate government, hate taxes and hate the idea of redistribution of income. Hell, they don't even want an estate tax -- the Death Tax -- on the super rich! For the most part that has been true over the past decade, even in Oregon where school budgets have been voted down repeatedly.

But the financial crisis clearly is a game changer. There's a powerful rising populist anger against our new billionaire bailout society. People see that the entire set up is grossly unfair: Wall Street gets rich by gambling. Then when its bets go sour, the economy crashes, and the gamblers get bailed out. What's even more galling is the fact that the same folks who crashed the system are now making record bonuses, while 30 million people are out of work or forced into part time jobs.

The crash also is destroying state budgets all over the country as revenues decline along with the loss of jobs and business dislocations. Since states by law cannot run deficits, they feel pressured to slash budgets (and not raise taxes) which in turns leads to the loss of public sector jobs and cuts in services. Even with the stimulus funds, the gaps remain. In Oregon the state revenue shortfall is nearly $750,000 million -- caused not by overspending, but by the Wall Street crash.

The "old" progressive infrastructure came together in Oregon. Public sector unions along with other state and local progressive organizations mobilized to win tax increase on corporations that will raise the corporate minimum tax from $10 per year to $150. Also those families earning over $250, 000 would see a rise in their state income taxes.

via www.alternet.org

Comments

[Alain]

Perhaps this is the beginning of something more widespread? If so, it will have to take place state by state because the federal response will continue to be inadequate. Thanks for posting this.

[Jocelyn Atkins]

a happy moment for us oregonians.

and we got one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

thanks for post.

[Jodi]

The Oregon event is inspiring. I'm going to be on the lookout for these kinds of events as ways of helping with counter pressures of action, organization, and possibility. What's really neat about the Oregon victory is that it was organized on a state level, that it was political, and that it fought back against the banks. it ruptured the stupid slogan of Wall Street as good for Main Street.