Chair of Senate Finance and Revenue Appointment
Oregon State Legislature sent this bulletin at 12/12/2014 02:29 PM PST
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Dear Friends,
I received a big honor this week when Senate President Peter Courtney appointed me to chair the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee for the upcoming 2015 Legislative Session.
But mostly it’s a big responsibility.
I see an opportunity for us to take a swing at one of the thorniest problems facing our state: our broken tax code.
Oregon has the most volatile tax code in the country, mostly because we are so dependent on the income tax. We’re more dependent on one tax than any other state.
Diversifying our tax base in a revenue-neutral way has been an impossible nut to crack.
But, rather than give up, we should at least try. I’ve always believed striking out is better than not getting up to bat.
I think of it this way: If Oregon just became a new state yesterday – and today we had to come up with a tax system today – would we come up with the system we have now?
Of course not.
So this is the course I’m on. And I hope you will join this effort with your engagement and your help in solving this issue once and for all.
Hope to hear from you all soon.
Happy Holidays!
 Senator Mark Hass email: Sen.MarkHass@state.or.us phone: 503-986-1714 |