Why I Voted No to Increased Taxes on 66 and 67
Remember the lottery?
And now I quote "Then in May 1995, Oregon voters recognized a new need and approved a Constitutional amendment allowing Lottery profits to help fund our public schools. And as times have changed, Lottery dollars have been directed to help where they are needed, when they are needed. In November 1998 Oregon voters added state parks and salmon restoration projects to receive Lottery profits." Quoted from http://www.oregonlottery.org/owins/textowins.htm
Please ask yourself and your neighbor. When people gamble, what service do you receive? Do your gutters get cleaned? Don't we have enough foolishness? Sure, I may offend some who gamble. But I believe that they aren't the ones who are looking for real value. I work with people who have homes and families who are wanting to care for themselves and others. And if I offend some for stating the facts and what has been published, am I the one at fault?
When the economy fell, 3.7 million Oregonians had to adjust their personal finances.
As they quit buying some services, some businesses failed. These people had to find new work
or went on unemployment. Some couldn't find work that they had done before and had to take part-time work or lesser paying work until they could retrain.
Government hiring more while fewer people have jobs
While Oregonians lost jobs and businesses were laying people off, the government was hiring. The government increased in size while we lost jobs.
Unemployment rates exceeded 10%. However this was total unemployment. If you discounted the increase in government jobs and jobs created by new government spending that are being paid for by printing more money, then unemployment would reach about 20% I believe.
The government however, cut back only partially. Because they didn't want to cut back like it's citizens cut back, they wanted to take money from other people.
Then the Oregon government took money from the FEDS who are broke and hopelessly in debt and just printing up money to support an out of control spending spree. This hurts Oregonians even more by devaluing our dollar. The government is buying up broke private businesses like never before in history.
Goverment wants more money as they hire more, and we lose jobs
And then to top it off, the Oregon government demanded more money from people who were wiser with their money handling and demanded that these wiser people give them money in the form of increased taxes. How wrong is that?
As a result of increased taxes, more layoffs happened. More people lost their jobs and the demand for unemployment continued. Now Oregon is number 2 in unemployment in the nation. This shows the failure of the Oregon goverment in basic economic lessons. To help pass measures 66 and 67, people on unemployment were offered the perk of being taxed less. Nothing like buying votes?
Did you want to raise taxes on me?
I live in a single-wide 1970 mobile home and run a small business. I paid $2750 for a fixer upper. I make ~$24k per year. Since consumers voted Yes on raising taxes more, it just increased my prices. I already have to work 6 days a week to make ends meet. And can you believe that I pay $4000 per year on a $15000 per year company wage? My taxes are already 26.6%
Yearly fees
Each year I am required to pay the government a fee to continue in business. In order to tell the government that I'm going to still be in business, they wanted $50 from me before. Now, the citizens of Oregon have decided that I need to pay $100 to tell them that I'm going to be in business each year. Since I've registered as a corporation, I am required by the state to file an assumed business name also, even though my name is in the business name ie. "Bradly Lewis".
If People Were Like the Government
If people were like the goverment, then we would be out of business. Can you imagine if I normally cleaned out gutters for $100 and then decided that it was going to cost you $200? Government have a set of police with guns and courts and jails on their side. People vote and don't realize the consequences of their actions because they are busy and don't take the time to research issues. I understand this. But it's time to wake up and change. I've learned so much after having my own business.
Anti-Governement People
I am all for government. And I mean "government", as in being properly governed, not abused, not tyrany. Cars and devices have "governors" on them to keep the engine from being destroyed. But being lied to and taken advantage of with ridiculous laws and taxes is not "government". It is corruption, where people say one thing, but do another. What happened to all the money from previous tax increases to pay for schools? I remember when going to PCC how they threw out dozens of good power supplies from the Physics lab because if they "didn't spend their full budget, it would be cut back". I could go on and on. I cannot afford to go to PCC anymore. But people who are broke can get free money from the government in grants. How's that again? That's encouraging people to go broke so they can use our tax dollars for free. But is it really free? No. To take money from the government who collected it from hard-working citizens costs people in their values and wears at the conscience.
I live on a street where I know my neighbors. Here's what is going on in my neighborhood:
- At least three of them (as of this writing) are on unemployment.
- Some owe child support and have no intention of paying. They've given up. Some wonder: Why work at a job and be taxed so heavily when they can work on the side and try to avoid child support?
- Some on unemployment work other jobs for cash. It's not reported to the unemployment division.
- Another woman collects social security and smokes weed. Why would they want to work when they can get paid not to work?
- Another man lost his job and tried to commit suicide twice.
Please email me a list of reasons why they would work. Do you believe this country is growing stronger? I know why this country is falling apart. I talk to my neighbors. Just look at the methods Obama is using to try to force government run healthcare on people. Are there any good reasons why people should pass laws they haven't even read?
Rude proponents of raising taxes on people other than themselves
On Tue, January 12th, 2010 I got a phone call from someone. I answered and said hello. No response, I said hello two more times and then they hung up. I called the number back to find out what was going on. It was an outfit that was calling people to encourage them to raise taxes on people other than themselves. I asked the woman what she did for work. They said she was in communications. I asked her what fee she paid to be in communications. She said nothing. So I said, why not raise taxes on people in communications because you don't even pay a $10 fee? Then she hung up on me. How rude is that?
If you want tax people other than yourself, why lie about it?
If you want other to pay taxes that you are not willing to pay, why lie to others about it? Why do people have to deceive others? Why not tell the truth? Why not say "I want you to pay more than me"?
People calling and telling me lies
At about 6:30 PM on WED Jan 13, 2010, I got a call from 503-821-7749. This time it was an older woman calling me to encourage me to raise taxes on people other than herself. I told her I made under $30K and those taxes would affect me. She said they would not. So I told her I had an S-Corp and that it would raise prices for me. She admitted that it would raise fees, but said those are paid by the incorporation, not me. So I told her that taxes affect people if they affect businesses. Taxes are raised on people. She said that she didn't want to continue the conversation because we disagreed. I reminded her that she had lied to me and that I had called her on it. I asked her if she was going to call others and lie to them to. She hung up on me.
In short, raising taxes hurts public safety by increasing unemployment, promoting lies that cause deception and class warfare and does a disservice to our society. Those who raise taxes often find themselves telling lies to others to deceive them into voting for increased taxes.
It's your decison. You will face more tax hikes from governments in the future. They have a monopoloy. Government is the biggest business in America. Instead, please support kind people who are doing good work in the community who aren't out trying to force other people to give them more money.
I work hard for a living and help a lot of people in the community by providing a real service. I feel very hurt that people want to tax me more and raise my customers prices. Don't people care their neighbor anymore?
Thanks for taking time to read this and I hope you make a wise, informed decision when voting in the futures. Let's work together to build healthy neighbor relationships so that we have a better community and nation.
In case you've read this whole page and are wondering if I've lost business because of stating what I've learned and come to believe, then you may be glad to know that my business has almost doubled since posting this and this is a frequently read page on my website of which I often receive good comments.
Sincerely,
Brad :) |