OSEA backs game-changing measure
Oregon’s schools are suffering mightily from inadequate funding. This year we can do something about it by voting Yes on Measure 97.
Recent reports have sounded the alarm on how students are losing access to school nurses, spending fewer days in class and going to school in facilities that expose all of us to lead, radon, asthma triggers and seismic risk. Our class sizes are the third largest in the country. Simply put, we are not putting kids in a position to take their best shot at success.
Classified school employees have seen our hours cut (a pay reduction often coupled with losing eligibility for health insurance benefits). We are all too keenly aware that inadequate staffing is putting us and our most vulnerable students at risk.
Meanwhile, the biggest corporations doing business in our state enjoy the lowest corporate taxes in the country. Corporate giants such as Comcast and Bank of America export profits out-of-state while contributing very little to education, health care and senior services. In fact, most corporations pay the bare minimum corporate tax.
Measure 97 would right this inequity by raising the corporate minimum tax to 2.5 percent on sales above $25 million. If this measure passes, big business will finally have to pay their fair share like they do in other states. And because 82 cents of every dollar will come from out-of-state corporations, Measure 97 will level the playing field between big corporations and Oregon’s small businesses.
Don’t believe the opposition’s hype. For example, grocery store advertisements reveal no difference in prices between Oregon and states that are already collecting their fair share from big business. Small businesses will be in a better position to compete, keeping consumer dollars circulating here in Oregon instead of lining pockets on Wall Street.
Critical investments in schools, health care and senior services are long overdue. Passing Measure 97 will go a long way toward ensuring a better Oregon for all of us.
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