Americans for Prosperity-Oregon Policy Agenda

• Defend Property Rights:  Oregonians have twice voted overwhelmingly to ensure that Constitutional protections of private property rights are maintained.  Our Constitution says that any time government takes away a property owner’s rights, it must pay compensation.  For more than 30 years, Oregon governments have been ignoring this provision.  AFP – Oregon will fight to maintain and expand private property rights so that government cannot take away your property without paying you for it.

• Stop the Cigarette Tax Hike: This November, voters will decide whether to increase the cigarette tax by 84.5 cents from $1.18 to $2.02 a pack to pay for the governor’s proposed health care plan. Sin taxes are highly regressive, consistently borne by low-income Americans.  These taxes have contradictory purposes—while their stated goal is to discourage smoking, they also make the State reliant on revenue from smokers to fund health care programs.  This is an unreliable revenue source.

• Defend Taxpayer Protections: Key taxpayer protections are under fire in Oregon, including an effort to repeal the double majority rule that may appear on the ballot in 2008.  AFP – Oregon will take a leading role in protecting this procedural mechanism that protects taxpayers from tax hikers.  Since its inception in 1996, Oregon’s double majority rule has saved taxpayers millions of dollars. It is a voter quorum rule. Just as legislatures across the country cannot pass laws without a sufficient number of representatives present, Oregon voters cannot pass a property tax increase without at least half of eligible voters present (expect on the general election day, when the rule does not apply). In the absence of this rule, special interest groups have the advantage to secure increased taxes and funding because they can get tax hike referendums in elections in which the majority of voters don’t even participate.

• Enact State Transportation Reform: Oregon’s transportation system has been beset by scandal and disrepair lately. Just recently, a $150 million project to straighten a dangerous and curving 10-mile stretch of U.S. 20 between Newport and Corvallis was suspended. Highways 202 and 103 have “pot holes big enough to bury a dog in.” State and local governments have spent billions of dollars, but roads and bridges throughout the state—especially in rural areas—suffer from poor maintenance and insufficient capacity. Transportation authorities have proven they cannot efficiently spend the money they currently receive from taxpayers, so AFP – Oregon will oppose efforts to increase taxes on motorists.  To fix these problems without increasing taxes, Oregon needs to create a Joint Commission on Transportation Accountability, with members from both legislative houses that would exercise appropriate oversight of state agencies with transportation responsibilities, with a specific mandate to prioritize congestion relief.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is the nation’s premier grassroots organization committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org.

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