If you reap what you sow, Oregon is headed for more troubling times

By: Scott Starr, Chamber President

The Wall Street Journal featured a very compelling opinion article on May 18, 2009 titled “Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich.” In it, authors Laffer and Moore discuss how more governors and states than ever are proposing the Obama solution to balancing the budget which, in effect, will put an undo burden on the “rich,” or job creators, more specifically, small business owners. California and New York are the most notable states for this extremely poor philosophy turned remedy. Now included in that pack is Oregon. In just a few weeks we will all see how California chooses to fix or ignore the problem and whether or not the federal government will need to step in and fix their mess.

Why would I agree with the WSJ and strongly believe this is a futile strategy and tactic to fix the economy and create jobs? We have the evidence right in front of us. The WSJ article says, “It never works because people, investment capital and businesses are mobile: They can leave tax-unfriendly states and move to tax-friendly states.” Between 1998-2007, there has been an incredible flight of more than 1,100 people a day moving from the nine highest income-tax states and mostly relocating to the nine tax-haven states (with no income tax). More fuel to the fire needed? How about over those same years the low income-tax states created 89% more jobs and had 32% faster personal income growth than the high-tax states. That income growth, in turn, was there to pay more taxes. Meanwhile, Oregon is already headed for a shortfall.

The reason I am so passionate about this subject is because the Oregon House and Senate completely sold out Oregon based businesses and our state economy this past session. I hope each member of the Wilsonville Chamber shares my concerns. You all need to know that the WSJ isn’t just talking about trends in CA and NY. It is happening in Oregon and the Wilsonville Chamber is facing the consequences today. We are losing memberships because businesses are closing down or joining many others and moving out of state. Consequently, the total tax pool is shrinking and further increasing the tax on those who stay.

We are consistently hearing from business owners that it isn’t worth trying to fight “the system” any longer. “The system,” that is an interesting choice of terms. In the Declaration of Independence there is a great statement regarding what we hold dearly and agree that segregates us as citizens of the US. The line is “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Most scholars agree that the pursuit of happiness was meant to describe the ability to pursue any legal business or employment opportunity or what we might call the “American dream.” The “system,” or the leadership in the Oregon state government appears to have determined that the pursuit of happiness or the American dream is not nearly their priority. Instead, they are spending too much money on their own priorities and then overtaxing business to pay for it, thumbing their noses at our assumed federal rights.

This arrogant thinking and policy making that willfully or mistakenly took direct aim at the business community has got to stop. For everyone who employs people or has a non - government job in Oregon, we need to ask our state legislators to put an end to this anti-business agenda. This state is losing too many jobs and companies. The elected officials who nurtured and consistently supported anti-business legislation and who are responsible for continuing our woeful unemployment rate in this state are Governor Kulongoski, Senators Peter Courtney and Richard Devlin, and Representatives Dave Hunt and Mary Nolan. To make a difference, we need to be in touch with their offices and all of our business associates in their districts. We need to voice our opinion that they have done enough harm. The time is now to depart from failed policy efforts and allow the business community to compete with other states and bring jobs back to Oregon!

www.wilsonvillechamber.com