Oregon's Taxes

A question was asked in the blogs…”How do you feel about Clark Colvin's idea of introducing a sales tax?” Since I’ve been meaning to discuss taxes in the blogs, I wanted to start a new blog post to answer this question.

I gotta tell you, I really like and respect Clark. He know’s a lot about business and how financial systems work. Way more than I know. I don’t claim to be the smartest guy in the world about everything, or even about one single thing. What I am REALLY good at is finding smart people who are HONEST and LOYAL and working with them to solve problems and create solutions.

It doesn’t take a room full of smart people to see that Oregon’s current tax system is a disaster. If I sat down for one month and did nothing but try to come up with a worse tax system than what we have, I couldn’t do it. Even if I was being paid $10 million to do it. Our system is inefficient and extremely expensive. It was not designed to facilitate the needs of the tax payers. It was designed to facilitate the needs of politicians and the elite, which it does very well. If you’re rich and/or elite, the tax system is working well for you. If you’re not, you’re getting screwed by it. Although, you probably don’t even know it because the elite have controlled you to the point that you’re completely oblivious to how much taxes you actually pay to the state. So, for you who think you don’t pay taxes just because you don’t pay an income tax, you’re mistaken…and you’re a sucker.

I’ve heard Clark talk about this a few times and I hope he doesn’t think I’m stealing his idea. Mine is similar with a few key differences. I’m not going to try to explain Clark’s tax plan. You can see his on his website. I encourage you to do so.

Here’s mine.

First of all…and here’s where mine differs from Clarks from what I know based on what I’ve heard him say at the forums we’ve been at. I would eliminate every single tax and fee from every single government entity in Oregon. Every single city, county, and state tax, fee, or other creative way a government agency takes money from the citizen. This would include but now be limited to; auto registration fees, driver license renewal, fishing license, hunting license, income tax, property tax, gas tax, cigarette tax, beer tax, sporting goods tax, parking violation fines, speeding ticket fines, etc. There are hundreds of taxes on the books that the Oregon Department of Revenue is responsible to collect. Surprisingly, Oregonians don’t even know they’re being taxed in most cases.

Second, in light of ditching all of these taxes, I would eliminate the Department of Revenue. This would save $200 Million. On top of that, think of all the money saved by not sending out all the tax forms, pamphlets, and everything else that is income tax related.

Third, institute a consumption tax. This is what Clark advocates for. But mine is a little different than Clarks. There are a lot of reasons to like a consumption tax over an income and property tax. The main reason for me is that you can control it. If you don’t want to pay tax, don’t buy stuff. Or buy cheaper stuff. Or buy used stuff. My plan won’t tax used stuff. It won’t tax stuff you need to live like medicine, most food, some clothing, electricity, automobiles to a certain price, homes to a certain price (these things will need to be worked out in the final plan, but the idea is to make it so people who just want to live a simple life do not have to pay a lot of taxes).

Under this tax, all Oregonians will automatically have a fishing license, their driver license will always be paid for, their car registration will always be up to date, no more paying for trail head passes if you want to go hiking or skiing. Everything is completely paid for through the consumption tax. No more collecting receipts for your income tax at the end of the year. No more filling out income tax forms for Oregon. No more worrying about getting audited by the state. No more worrying about the state repossessing your home if you can’t pay your property tax at the end of the year.

*UPDATE* one more thing about this plan. The tax rate will adjust periodically. I'm thinking quarterly but it can be every six months or annually. Whatever works best. The adjustment will be based on an equation that will keep the state budget constantly balanced and the tax rate as low as possible. For instance, if more taxes are raised one quarter than expected, the next quarter the tax rate will be lowered. Or, if consumption is expected to be higher one quarter, say fourth quarter, the rate will be lowered for that quarter.

Life is going to be a hell of a lot less stressful in Oregon under this plan.

So you want to tax the rich people more? This plan will do exactly that. Rich people don’t sit on their money. They spend it and they’re going to be paying a hell of a lot more taxes than the poor people so don’t you worry, that evil rich guy is still gonna be paying his share in taxes.

This is going to have to be placed in the Constitution where it can’t be manipulated by the unscrupulous people we have running our government because you know damn well they will try to get around it and tax you some other way. But you and I can make it rock solid. I’m telling you, this plan will save Oregon from bankruptcy and put a hell of a lot of money back in your pocket as well as give our state more money to work with.

So, this blog entry isn’t the entire plan. It’s actually quite involved and extensive. If you have questions, please go ahead and ask. I hope this gives you a good general idea of the great things we can have in this state if we get rid of the crappy revenue system we have and replace it with a consumption tax. And let me say again, I’m not the smartest guy in the world. Put me in a room with a bunch of super smart people and we can make the world’s best tax system and implement it in Oregon in record time. AND without influence from big money special interest. It’s all for YOU.