Measures 66 and 67 win in a landslide

When votes were counted Jan. 26, it wasn’t even close: The first time they’ve been asked to decide such a question, Oregonians said “yes” by a lopsided margin to raising taxes on corporations and the state’s richest individuals.

Measure 66 — which increases the income tax rate by up to 2 percent on the top 2.5 percent of income earners — passed with 54 percent support.

Measure 67 — which raises the corporate minimum to $150 a year and bumps up the corporate profits tax as much as 1.3 percent — got 53 percent support.

The increases were approved by the Oregon Legislature last June, but were referred to voters by a business-funded coalition that hired paid signature gatherers. The increases are forecasted to raise $733 million over two years, which will pay for schools, social services and public safety.

Businesses and rich individuals contributed over $4.5 million to defeat the tax increases, and filled the airwaves with ominous-sounding ads warning of job losses. Business groups — including some that last year urged lawmakers to raise taxes across the board to prevent budget cuts — now argued that a recession is the wrong time to raise taxes (on them).

But the “no” campaign was more than countered by union money and volunteers. Backed by a coalition that included unions, PTAs, and the AARP, the mostly-volunteer Vote Yes For Oregon campaign knocked on over 300,000 doors and called over a million registered voters. The “yes” campaign also raised over $6.8 million, which paid for door-to-door canvasses and television ads pointing out that many banks and other big corporations have been paying just $10 a year in state income tax.

The final percentage in favor of the tax increases was about the same level that polls showed last summer — before either campaign got under way.

The most decisive moment in the campaign, campaign manager Kevin Looper told the Labor Press, took place before it began, when Democratic legislators faced down corporate lobbyists and voted for a populist package that raised taxes on corporations and the wealthy.

“It gave the electorate a really clear choice about being able to protect the things they care about but not put the burden on middle class families,” Looper said.

“Oregonians looked beyond the lies and half-truths that were thrown at them,” House Majority Leader Dave Hunt (D-Clackamas County) said at an election night celebration in Portland.

But without question, it was the involvement of unions — particularly public employee unions — that made the “yes” campaign competitive. Oregon Education Association contributed over $2 million, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) nearly $1.9 million; and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) $1 million — half from Oregon AFSCME and half from the AFSCME international.

Oregon AFSCME also worked to counter the opposition ads. The union bought $150,000 worth of radio spots to debunk the claim that state employees had received $259 million in raises. Nine days before the mail ballot deadline, the “no” campaign surprised supporters with a wrap-around ad in the Sunday Oregonian; the ad made it seem like the paper itself was going out of its way to urge a “no” vote. Oregon AFSCME stepped up with $20,000 to put its own wrap-around ad in the paper six days later. Both of the independent ad campaigns were paid primarily from a media grant the national union gave Oregon AFSCME last April.

After the vote, Looper said he got calls from people around the country wanting to talk about how the campaign was run and what it means for their states.

The Oregon vote result could embolden further moves in Oregon and elsewhere toward a tax system that asks more of business and the wealthy. 

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