If consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, Gov. John
Kitzhaber must be the smartest man in Salem.
Rarely has a chief political leader flip-flopped as much
as our governor on the matter of tax reform and school finance.
Just six months ago, Kitzhaber pounded his hand on the
table and pledged to reform Oregon's tax structure, to put
a package before voters that would, once and for all, address
the many inequities of Oregon's archaic form of raising
revenue.
When he made his pronouncement last spring, the surprise
wasn't his willingness to tackle Oregon's tax code (and
therefore its way of raising money for schools); it was
that he had waited so long to do it.
Then, last week, Kitzhaber twirled and spun his way into
one of the quickest retreats in the history of modern-day
Oregon politics.
His three-legged platform is not without merit. The plan
to create a rainy-day fund to provide for schools when the
economy goes sour is sensible. So, too, is his proposal
to allow local school districts to tax themselves in a way
that doesn't unfairly benefit rich areas. And his third
proposal, to add wording into the state constitution that
requires the Legislature to "adequately fund" education,
is harmless feel-good language.
But this doctor is treating the symptoms rather than the
disease itself. And in so doing, he is ignoring his pledge,
his own tax-reform task forces and the historical imperative
that he become something more than a Democratic version
of Vic Atiyeh.
Kitzhaber knows well that our tax structure is obsolete.
For 20 years he has been an elected official, first as a
state representative, then as a state senator and Senate
president. He crafted budgets, studied Oregon's tax system
and was in the eye of the storm for the 1990 passage of
Measure 5, a property-tax-cut initiative that all but begged
for a legislative response.
Kitzhaber understands that there has been a profound yet
unintended shift in the tax burden of this state off of
business and onto the individual. He is well aware that
Oregon taxes are steadily declining as a percentage of income.
He knows full well that we are creating more tax loopholes
rather than closing them.
Yet he still chose the path of pusillanimity.
Salem is filled with theories about why Kitzhaber has chosen
the route of least resistance. Some speculate that he simply
doesn't have his heart in it. Others point to the influence
of the Oregon Business Council, which his chief of staff,
Bill Wyatt, used to run and which argued to the governor
that he play it safe. Others point to the meetings the governor
has had with pollsters, including Tim Hibbitts and Adam
Davis, who told him that reforming taxes in the face of
a complacent populace would be no easy task.
It really doesn't matter. When he was elected to Oregon's
highest office in 1994, this presumably progressive governor
was, many thought, the perfect leader to move the state
beyond his predecessors' approach of patching a hole in
the SS Oregon and sailing away
Wishful thinking. Kitzhaber has made his decision (unless
he flips again). His legacy will be one of careful incrementalism
and sheepish leadership.
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Willamette Week | originally
published September 15,
1999
|
