Understanding Measure 97 is easier than you think! Follow the Money!
Measure 97 will allow Oregon to restore the excellent K-12 education for our kids we used to have and will improve Oregonians’ health while allowing thousands more of our seniors to retire with dignity in their own homes.
Measure 97 will be paid for by approximately 800 of the largest corporations doing business in Oregon out of a total of the 400,000 businesses operating in Oregon. About 50 of the biggest businesses will pay over 80% of the total tax, national and international companies we all know about. Some of those 50 companies are paying most of the huge campaign war chest against the measure, companies like Comcast Cable, Wells Fargo, Standard Insurance, Chevron Corporation, Weyerhaeuser Company, Shell Oil, Phillips 66, etc.
Those huge out-of-state corporations have made many misleading and inaccurate arguments to convince you to vote no. Don’t do it! Their most stated argument is that if Measure 97 passes they will simply raise their prices in Oregon so that, in effect, you would pay the tax and not them. There are many reasons why that is simply not true, but how can you know who is right?
It turns out to be easy once you think about it. Would these big corporations whose only reason to exist is to make money spend some of it to help you out? Or are they spending all this money on the campaign in order to avoid spending even more that would help our kids, the sick and senior citizens? They have no reason to spend upwards of $20 Million to protect you and your budget. Do not be fooled. They are protecting themselves and their bottom line. They have no reason through the goodness of their hearts to try to protect your budget, because they care only about making money for themselves and their rich stockholders, as fast and in as large amounts as possible.
The big corporations have robbed Oregon’s school children, the sick, and the elderly for decades with expensive lobbying, sophisticated use of foreign tax havens, and quiet manipulation of the tax laws. Don’t let them talk you out of solving one of Oregon’s most important problems. Make them pay their fair share. Vote Yes for Measure 97.
Measure 97 is a game changer for Oregon. It will restore the resources Oregon’s public schools need to once again reach for excellence and support shop, PE, art, music classes, and librarians, school nurses, and counselors as well as the smaller class size our students desperately need. It will move us toward a healthier future. It will help us provide healthcare for the most vulnerable Oregnians, and allow thousands of seniors to continue to live with dignity in their own homes.
Passing Measure 97 will lead to a brighter future in Oregon with more of the dollars that otherwise would go to rich investors staying here instead.
If the measure fails, Oregon will have lost its best chance in two decades for good schools, health care and senior services, and big corporations will have proved that a few million dollars in misleading and confusing ads can save themselves and their rich investors billions. If the measure fails their rich out-of-state investors will not see the misery and poverty that results, but we will.
Will Oregon keep some of the dollars these businesses make here and have a brighter future? Or will these big corporations win and keep the money they have been so carefully withholding from Oregon’s school children, health care, and senior services? You decide.
Vote Yes on Measure 97.
If you still have questions, go read the analysis at www.ocpp.org/2016/10/11/blog20161011-Measure-97-FAQ-answers/ That link should clearly answer most of the detail questions you have. But remember, follow the money. If you have a question that site misses, send me an email at phil@philbarnhart.com and I will try to answer it.
Remember, our big out-of-state corporate opponents are not spending millions to save you money. They are only in it for themselves. Vote Yes for Measure 97.
