6 lies on campaign to pass $2B gas/road tax

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com

The leaders of the Joint Transportation Committee (Representative Susan McLain and Senator Chris Gorsek) put out a stout defense of their transportation deal which includes 11 new taxes and $2 billion in new annual taxes when it is fully kicked in.  It can be seen in this Sunday’s Oregonian.  Because this is is received by 125,000 homes, we feel obligated to point out lies and absurdities of their campaign.

Here are the Top 5 lies and problems of the $2 billion gas tax/road tax plan:

LIE #1. “No one got everything they wanted in the bill”

TRUTH: Whoa nelly!  There are 11 tax increases in the bill and you claim you didn’t get everything you wanted?  Were you planning on 23 tax increases?   This $2 billion transportation tax bill is likely the second biggest tax increase in all of Oregon history and all you can say is that you didn’t get what you wanted?  Did you want $3 billion in new annual taxes?

LIE #2. “Our plan stanches the budget bleeding right now”

Bleeding!!!!!

The politicians just raised the Oregon gas tax 5% last year!

The politicians just raised DMV fees, some nearly doubled, just last year!

Did you know that those gas taxes and DMV that they just raised last year, were already in the top 10 highest gas taxes and DMV fees in America compared to the other 49 states?   That means the politicians had more gas tax/DMV fee revenue than other states and raised it even higher, and now claim they are on their death bed from budget cuts.

Look below at the last budget the politicians approved.

Where is the bleeding???

 

The people who are bleeding are not politicians or bureaucrats, but taxpayers paying higher gas taxes and DMV fees.

When politicians use violent and frightening words like “bleeding” to describe budget booms — you know they are dishonest beyond belief.

 

LIE #3. “Based on more than a year of public engagement and negotiations”

TRUTH: There were no public hearings on the bill until the final 20+ days of the Session when public notices and hearings were rushed and the public was shut out of the process.   Those final rushed hearing did not even have an official State Capitol analysis of what the bill would do until the hearings came to a close.  The hearings started with no known number of how much the bill would raise.   People were asking is this $1 billion? $1.5 billion? or $2 billion?   Turns out, it was the highest number imaginable — $2 billion a year in annual tax increases.   For the party in power, the Democratic Party by margins of 60% vote thresholds, they have absolute control over every aspect of the Legislative process, so it is a crying shame that they have to resort to hiding bills and blocking public access.  This is shameful and wrong.

 

LIE #4: “City budgets are also stretched thin. Asking city leaders to spend more on transportation would draw funds away from other critical local services like homeless shelters, parks and public safety.”

TRUTH:  Some cities are blowing their transportation dollars.  Portland, spent $134 million on a river bridge between two traffic congestion points and does not allow cars to use it.  Then Portland built another bridge costing $19 million over Interstate 84 for another car-free bridge.   Beaverton is using transportation dollars to remove existing paved roads in high-traffic areas to make way for more greenery.

 

LIE #5: “it invests in transit to serve the 30% of people who don’t drive cars”

TRUTH: PEW Research just last year, pegged non-drivers at 10%.

Sounds like Representative Susan McLain and Senator Chris Gorsek bad math reflects ODOT’s bad math when they accidentally mis-spent $1 billion in transportation dollars due to an accounting error.

Furthermore, how is raising gas taxes, car sales taxes, DMV fees goign to make it easier for the poor to drive cars?

 

LIE #6: “Oregon cannot afford to stand still”

TRUTH: The vigilant Oregon State Senate Republican Leader Dan Bonham and Oregon State Representative House Leader Christine Drazan have released two versions of their transportation package plans (version 1, version2 ) that focus on cutting waste and enhancing accountability measures without new taxes.  When politicians tell you that they are the ONLY people to have a plan and the alternative is to “stand still” and do nothing — you know they are desperate and will saying anything to get what they want.

 

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The post 6 lies on campaign to pass $2B gas/road tax first appeared on Oregon Catalyst.