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IN THIS
ISSUE:
Bad Guys Get Out Early
Rising Health
Costs
New Transportation Fees
Tax Amnesty
Thoughts for Kim
Education Feedback
Dear Friends,
In this month's edition look for
hundreds of bad guys getting out of prison early,
health care and transportation taxes going up and other scary
things. Halloween isn't the only spooky event happening
in October.
All of these items are coming to
you thanks to the 2009 Legislative Session; more specifically
the majority party which controls the votes in the House and
Senate. There were more than 40 new tax and fee bills
adopted by the Legislature; a $1.5 billion increase. A
year ago, Oregon voters elected enough Democrats to give them
a supermajority in the Legislature and the predictions of
higher taxes, higher fees and higher costs are all coming
true.
Last month we asked readers to tell
me how they would improve education in our state. Dozens
of you responded. Only a couple suggested more
funding. The rest covered the gambit. Many of
those answers are listed below and will be a big help as I
continue to work on helping every child succeed. Thank
you for your feedback!
Sincerely,
Bad Guys
Get Out Early On "Good" Time
Approximately 800 criminals will be
getting out of our state prisons on early release this fall
due to a new law (House Bill 3508) adopted by a majority of
state lawmakers. In the November 2008 election 61% of Oregon
voters said they wanted tougher penalties for drug and
property offenders by passing Measure 57. Then the legislature
came along and suspended the measure in order to save money.
One of the things they also did was give non-violent felons
more time off their sentences for good behavior. Instead of
the standard 20% reduction in their sentence these thugs will
now get a 30% reduction.
While this new earned
time provision doesn’t apply to rapists and murderers, the
group that is eligible includes meth dealers, car thieves,
burglars, and chronic DUII offenders. This is not a temporary
situation because this new law is retroactive and over the
next four years more than 4,000 offenders will be getting out
early. This new 30% “good time” program has caused a huge
backlog in our court system and lots of confusion for inmates
and their families. Another new change from this law only
punishes probation violators with a 60-day sentence instead of
the current 6-month sentence. So much for truth in sentencing,
a concept I have worked very hard for in the legislature. If
you want to read more about it go to the Department of
Corrections website or click
here.
And You Wonder Why Health
Insurance Costs Keep Going
Up?
 In an effort to make sure all
children have health insurance the Legislature passed a 1% tax
on almost all health insurance premiums. Regence Blue Cross,
Providence, Kaiser, Lifewise, ODS, Pacific Source, United
Health Care and others have sent out notices effective October
1st premiums are going up as a result of this new
tax. The goal is to raise nearly $90 billion to pay for
coverage for around 80,000 children. It’s
called the Health Care for All
Oregon Children. I’m all for helping
low income families but there are other ways to do it besides
making health insurance more expensive for other Oregon
families.
Driving Me
Crazy With All These New Fees 
The next
time you visit the Driver and Motor Vehicles branch, be
prepared to dig deeper in your wallet. The Legislature
approved a whole list of new fee increases from trip permits
to license plates. This is not just nickel and dime stuff –
some get hiked by 37%. The revenue generated from these fees
go toward road repairs around the state. To learn more go to
the DMV website or click
here. Registration fees for cars, vans,
pickups & SUV’s go up from $27 to $43
Title fees increase from $55 to
$77
License plate fees now have an
additional fee of $10 for single, $20 for pair
ID cards go up by $10 each
Tax
Amnesty Could Be Risky Business 
Arthur Godfrey once said, “I’m
proud to be paying taxes in the US. The only thing is I could
be just as proud for half the money.” Raise your hand if you
agree. Thousands of Oregon taxpayers are now eligible to catch
a break if they owe back taxes or failed to file a tax return
in the past. Or maybe not. To find out more go to www.oregontaxamnesty.com
Below is the feedback we got from
Dale Kennedy, CPA/Attorney from Integrity First Financial
Services, a Salem area CPA firm.
“The
tax amnesty is written to appear like it is a good thing for
Oregonians, and for those who know about it in time… it will
be. It will reduce the net tax
penalties and interest that are applied to the taxpayer if
they file during the amnesty period. However, the time period
for this program is very short and could be problematic to a
significant number of individuals the program could
benefit. The amnesty application period is only six
weeks (October 1 – November 19, 2009) and all data must be
compiled and returns must be completed and filed by January
19, 2010. The long
term results of the bill are not as favorable to Oregon
taxpayers. It actually allows the Department of Revenue
to increase the amount of penalties that it charges to
taxpayers who fail to get into the program. The amnesty
program excludes the 2008 tax year, and excludes tax payers
who already owe a tax debt.”
Thoughts for Thatcher:
Where do you think state government
should cut back in order to avoid raising taxes and fees?
Click
here to give
Representative Thatcher your thoughts.
Thank
you for your feedback.
Here’s what you said to
last month’s question about what is the biggest problem facing
education in Oregon today:
- Funding of
Oregon schools is through the roof with no correlating test
scores to show for it. It's time to put the focus, and pressure, on
the parents.
- In my view, the
biggest problem is PERS!!
My suggestion to
better the Education system & lower the cost, is to
reduce the number of managerial personnel and reduce their
bloated pay scale.
I would suggest
that teachers be competent in a manner to teach about the
Constitution.
The biggest
problem facing education in Oregon is the deep disrespect
shown to teachers, the lack of support they get, and the divisive efforts of
leadership in the state to "solve" the problems of education
with quick and cosmetic
fixes.
The Legislature
should fund Education, Police, Fire Fighters,
and keeping dangerous people off the
streets first not
last.
I would say the
biggest challenge for school's is the Spanish speaking
children.
Socialism &
not teaching the basics.
Technical trades
education remains neglected. The goal seems to be that
everyone should attend college,and that those who don’t are not
deserving of respect. This leaves many of Oregon’s
important skills and jobs neglected.
All of the
learning disabled kids are lumped together in the same class
and taught the same levels even if they cannot speak and are
quadrapalegics.
The biggest
problems facing education today are the teachers unions, the
cost of PERS, and the lack of meaningful school choice.
Government shows
how little priority education has by funding it last.
Certainly one of
the bigger problems, especially in some of the Metropolitan
school districts, is the influx of non-English speaking students.
Our State and
country needs to do a better job of making college
accessible to all kids, rich and poor.
Virtual schools,
private schools, and homeschooling should be encouraged
by the legislature, I would think, as a positive solution to overcrowding,
as well as budget problems.
There needs to
be more emphases on the self pride that comes from
actually working hard and learning about math, science, history
and proper use of the English language. Having
said that, I also know there are many teachers and students
who manage to rise above the bad politics and are
succeeding.
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900 Court St. NE, Salem
Oregon 97301 
