The corporate kicker: Where should it go? (East Oregonian)

Editorial

We at the East Oregonian support ending the corporate kicker. We feel the money could be used for higher education, for putting more Oregon State Police troopers on the highway or for health care for children and senior citizens.

Read the full editorial at the East Oregonian

If Sal Peralta has his way, Oregon's corporate kicker tax will become history.

The activist, a former state representative candidate and small business owner from McMinnville, is one of the chief petitioners for a ballot measure initiative to end the corporate kicker.

Peralta and fellow petitioner Travis Diskin hope to get the measure on the ballot in 2010.

Keep in mind, they don't want to touch Oregonians' individual kickers, only the corporate "kicker tax" rebate.

And thus far, the measure has received support from all sides involved.

"More than expected," Peralta said Wednesday about the support he's received. "We've had productive conversations with GOP and Democratic leadership and I've also seen support in the small business community."

The corporate kicker originated in 1979 as part of the overall kicker package. In 2000, it was added to the constitution. Last year, an initiative was filed to end the corporate kicker, but as Peralta put it, "it didn't go anywhere."

However, this year, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and legislative leaders agreed to create a "rainy day" fund with a one-time suspension of corporate kicker refunds, instead of asking Oregon voters to make the decision.

The reason? Most of the money refunded hasn't stayed in Oregon.

Peralta said historically - since 1979 - numbers show 80 percent of the money refunded to corporations from the kicker leave the state and don't help the economy. But he said it's been higher than that in recent years - up to 86 percent.

And, of that, about 50 percent of the money goes to fewer than 30 corporations.

We at the East Oregonian support ending the corporate kicker tax. We feel the money could be used for higher education, for putting more Oregon State Police troopers on the highway or for health care for children and senior citizens.

And with the recent failure of the Healthy Kids Plan, the 84.5 cent cigarette tax increase that, had it passed, would have covered about 117,000 Oregon children who don't have health insurance, this money could fund that.

Peralta said the $315 million that went into the Rainy Day Fund this year would pay for health care for 80,000 Oregon children.

The initiative will be filed Friday with the Secretary of State and then be sent on to the Attorney General, who will give it a ballot title.

Peralta said the reason they're aiming for the 2010 ballot is because the process is quite time-consuming.

He said just getting a ballot title could take six months and the deadline for the 2008 ballot is this July. Once the measure receives a title, it will take about 125,000 to 130,000 signatures to put it on the ballot for 2010.

So, until then, we could have two more years of seeing Oregon tax money leave the state and we don't like that.

What our state legislators should do in the meantime, is look into another one-year suspension of the corporate kicker for 2009. Then, Oregon voters can decide to keep the money in Oregon for good.

Just like the Keep Oregon Green signs on the highway, we want to keep Oregon's green in Oregon.

For more on the ballot measure initiative, log on to www.kickthekicker.com.