Lower Taxes Should Not Be A Partisan Issue

Opposing detrimental tax policies should not be a partisan issue (Sept. 16, "Tax increases could be issue in governor's race"). Luckily, there is already a broad movement afoot to roll back the Legislature's recent tax hikes on incomes and businesses.

A rollback of these tax hikes should be high on the priority list for the betterment of Oregon. We continue to see in other states (like California) that this "soak the rich" approach to tax policy not only is bad for the economy, but it also creates more drastic boom-and-bust budgets.

Whoever becomes the next governor must realize that expanding the government's money pool diverts much-needed capital away from the private sector where it would help rejuvenate Oregon's economy.

If government continues to take more money out of the pockets of an already heavily tax-burdened citizenry, the state's economy will suffer. Going forward, the Legislature needs to focus on comprehensive tax reform and an overhaul of the government workforce, and show a real commitment to reducing its expenditures.

— John Nothdurft, legislative specialist, The Heartland Institute, Chicago

This letter to the editor was originally published in the Statesman Journal.