Oregon votors overwhelmingly pass Measure 101

[customerserviceguy]

20. I used to live in Washington, near the border with Oregon

The voters in Washington always have turned down an income tax, and the voters in Oregon have always turned down a sales tax. It's not that one state is more "progressive" than the other, it's just that the voters in each of the two states likes only having two "legs" of the tax stool to deal with.

The point is, it calls to mind what Democratic Senator Russell B. Long, from Louisiana is credited with saying, "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree." It takes political courage to vote to tax oneself, and I've noted that voters in the more urbanized areas of Portland and Seattle have indeed voted for taxes to build and maintain mass transit.

Just as taxes pay for things that benefit a part (or maybe most) of society, there are parts of every society that bear the expense of the taxes. My prediction is that the costs will not be borne by six-figure hospital administrators or seven-figure health insurance CEO's.