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Debating the "Kicker"

by Tryan Hartill

Inflation

  • Inflation happens everday of the week and our dollars are worth less so we need more for our basic State programs.
  • Government caused inflation by printing lots of money (Feds) and by borrowing and giving out easy loans (State and Feds), it’s their own damn fault and they should get what is coming to them.

How the “Kicker” is computed

  • The “tax revenues expected” are done 2 years in advance and no one knows what will really happen 2 years down the road.
  • Government should be forced to plan 2 years ahead no matter how much money is coming, so we get the best bang for the buck.

Minimum Wage

  • The minimum wage has been pushed up, so naturally the tax coffers should fill and much of the increase is from the poor making Min Wage, so social programs need to be funded.
  • Business owners and the wealthy have been forced to pay their workers more and therefore they should receive any “windfalls” back that the higher wages caused.

Where it should be invested

  • It should be put right back into schools and others programs for the younger ones, so they can be a productive labor force.
  • It should be given back to the tax payers so they can have the choice of where to invest it.

Is this a crazy law?

  • It’s the only one in the U.S. that gives extra revenue back to the tax-payers and if other States do fine without it then we can too.
  • The kicker is what keeps our State Government honest and on it’s heels, the most bang!

So after all this what is the best thing to do, in a “perfect world”?

Well Lithia Motors in Medford has the right idea:

When Oregon revenue exceeds state economists’ estimates by more than 2 percent, it triggers a corporate and personal tax credit for the second year of a biennium.
Sid DeBoer, Lithia Motors Inc. chairman and chief executive officer, said Thursday his company will pass along its corporate kicker of nearly $300,000, toward the downtown Medford Southern Oregon University/Rogue Community College building project.
“We’ll hand over a check to the Southern Oregon University Foundation when we get the check from the state,” DeBoer said. “I’m challenging every corporation, whether privately or publicly held, to do the same thing. It’s a nice way to get this thing going.”
DeBoer thinks kicker revenue would be better spent on specific needs such as infrastructure rather than sent back to companies, 60 percent of which are based out of state.
“It should be invested, not buried in the general fund,” DeBoer said. “It’s a very specific project that Medford needs to raise the money for. It’s an investment in a 100-year building, not for current expenses, and I think it’s a great use for a corporate kicker.”

Obviouly we don’t live in a perfect world, but I think it would be best if the kicker was continued, but local tax-payers and businesses would feed a good chunk of that money to where it is needed directly.

Corporations are expected to receive 36% of their payments back and Private income earners are getting close to 10% back.

So a question for everyone out there expecting their kicker:

What are you planning to do with it?

Jun 4, 11:23 pm | Tryan Hartill
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19 comments on this article (post your own)

1 On Jun 4, 11:29 pm, Tryan Hartill wrote:

Couple other questions also:
Do you think the kicker is good or bad for Oregon overall and how much will this be factored into your votes in November?

2 On Jun 5, 06:30 am, Patrick McGee wrote:

Since when is it the government, when it finds itself with extra money, can decide that it needs to be stuffed away for laeter use instead of being returned to the people that own it during each fiscal cycle.

A state’s budget should always zero out at the end of its cycle.

Is that not true?

You’re damned right we should get it back without a whimper.

Look at Clatsop County.

Through “Timber Funds” they seem to think they have their own little “Gold Mine” for their socalled “Special Projects” and can spend that money at their will for whatever they choose without review and approval of the citizens they represent.

That is not right either, in my view.

3 On Jun 5, 07:26 am, Glenn wrote:

Give the kicker back to the people.

It’s money we overpay to the govt.

It’s our money.

If an individual wants to kick it back to the state, by all means, knock yourself out.

4 On Jun 5, 07:30 am, Tryan Hartill wrote:

If an individual wants to kick it back to the state, by all means, knock yourself out.

I was thinking more along the lines of kids programs and charities. I don’t think just “sending it back to Salem” would accomplish much.

5 On Jun 5, 07:57 am, Patrick McGee wrote:

Tryan Says:
I was thinking more along the lines of kids programs and charities. I don’t think just “sending it back to Salem” would accomplish much.

6 On Jun 5, 08:01 am, Patrick McGee wrote:

“Tryan Says:
I was thinking more along the lines of kids programs and charities. I don’t think just “sending it back to Salem” would accomplish much.”

Let us decide what to do with our own money Tryan.

We will do the right thing with it I am certain, just make sure we get the overpayment back and not leave it in the hands ot the “self-Righteous” and “Political”.

7 On Jun 5, 10:00 am, Glenn wrote:

Send it to whomever you want.
Schools, charities, your church, the salvation army, fidel castro, GW, Al Gore, the comumnist party, etc.

It’s your money and you can do whatever you want with it.

8 On Jun 5, 10:40 am, Tryan Hartill wrote:

Patrick

Yep, do whatever the hell you want with it. I was just commenting on what I hope the tax-payers do with there money, feed it back into the programs that are being cut. The way you speak you act like you don’t give a crap, which is find by me.
As I’ve posted here before, many locals have generously donated millions of dollars to local programs, there is probably enough of them to pick up the slack for those who want to buy that new hummer or take that month long vacation with their rebates, so it “doesn’t end up in the hands of those self-rightous or pols”.

9 On Jun 5, 01:04 pm, Patrick McGee wrote:

But, Tryan, let the taxpayer decide for him/herself what to do with “THEIR” money, not you, not me, not Glenn, not Richard Lee, not etc., etc.

10 On Jun 5, 01:24 pm, Walter Richards wrote:

I think you’re all forgetting the MAIN point. The “kicker” is mandated by the Oregon Constitution (Art IX, Sec 14).

If the government (whomever) wants to keep it … they HAVE to rewrite the Constitution. If they don’t, the People are free to bring the official(s) up on charges of violating the law.

Of course, if enough people got really steamed about it – they could just refuse to pay income taxes. There’s nothing the state can really do about it, since there’s no jail space and (thanks to illegals) it’s so easy to get phony SSNs. (Also because the state won’t check it against the federal records).

11 On Jun 5, 02:00 pm, Tryan Hartill wrote:

Patrick

Just My opinion as stated above and a suggestion. Of course everyone should do whatever they want.
You seem to be getting all huffy and puffy about me explaining what I think should happen.

Walter

We are not forgetting it, we know and it and Governments change Constitutions all the time, as some in D.C. say “It’s just a piece of paper”.

12 On Jun 5, 02:17 pm, Walter Richards wrote:

My ONLY conspiracy theory has to do with the reason gov’t-schools seldom teach philosophy and civics anymore, is so future generations won’t have a clue about our Constitution and the limits it imposes on gov’t. It also ties in to why the gov’t won’t give school vouchers to anybody.

Anyway, you may know it … but because few people are saying it, and their overshadowed by the people arguing “it’s our money” ... the politicians don’t THINK you know it.

The Constitutional argument is the one the politicians should be hearing the loudest, with the most people. If they don’t, they think the majority of people are unaware it’s a Constitutional issue – and thus feel more free to act in an unConstitutional manner.

13 On Jun 5, 11:49 pm, cary wrote:

The legislature absolutely should not and has no right to keep taxpayers money it did not expect to get in the first place. What the kicker does, is force the legislature to stick to what they budgeted for. I assure you that our government will spend any amount of money it is allowed to and grow itself as much as possible. The kicker tax refund is one way to curb the growth of government and keep spending in check.

In my business, if someone overpays me for services I provide, the ethical thing for me to do is return the extra money they gave to me. It is their money not mine. I shouldnt try to keep it, that would be wrong.

What about a rainy day fund?? The legislature should budget for it like anything else they budget for. Easier said than done, Its always raining somewhere in Oregon.

In 2000, the people of Oregon voted on Ballot Measure 86. This was a constitutional ammendment requiring refunding of general fund revenues exceeding state estimates to taxpayers.
The measure passed by a solid majority 898,793 to 550,304. (9,328 to 6,694,passed in Clatsop County)

The people have spoken!!
This money belongs to the people of Oregon, give it back to us!!

If anyone feels they havnt paid enough in state taxes, by all means, please return your kicker check to Salem…...Better yet, give locally.

14 On Jun 6, 06:10 am, Patrick McGee wrote:

“Huffy”?

Me getting “Huffy”?

I’m not getting “Huffy”.

Quite frankly any kicker I would get simply goes to reduce the balance I owe the state in taxes every year anyway but still, it’s my money, not yours or any other individual or group’s to decide what to do with it and I want to make sure it stays that way.

As I have said, we have enough of that kind of abuse of “Public Monies” going on around here as it is, we don’t need anymore.

15 On Jun 7, 09:55 am, Walter Richards wrote:

BTW … How can there be agencies claiming “budget shortfalls”, when having a “kicker” means those agencies got the full funding they had budgetted? Since it’s an ongoing argument, perhaps the agencies should fire whomever is doing their budgeting. After all, they are obviously incompetent for that job.

16 On Jun 7, 10:01 am, Tryan Hartill wrote:

Good call Walter.

Also I wonder who does the “Guess” on future tax coffers.

17 On Jun 11, 06:52 am, lee wrote:

morning-
Sounds like Governor Kulongowski will have 5 or 6 spoilers to contend in November. If he loses, who do we get? Saxton? Have you noticed that he even kindda looks like Clinton?

18 On Jun 11, 06:56 am, lee wrote:

The toddler kicker is adorable.

19 On Jun 11, 06:58 am, lee wrote:

I lied. This is spam.

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