By Taxpayers Association of Oregon
OregonWatchdog.com
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) says it has a massive budget hole of $1 billion to $1.7 billion due to a host of factors (lawsuits, declining gas tax revenue, inflation, cost over-runs, exploding labor costs, rising county needs, government pension, etc.)
ODOT actually mapped out a possible 75-cent gas tax increase plan.
Most likely ODOT will try to balance the cost with other taxes such as various DMV fees, title fees, registration fees. Under this more likely plan, ODOT has projected out a 35-cent gas tax
.
A 35-cent gas tax is outrageous and will spike the cost of every item on the grocery and retail shelf.
A 35-cent gas tax will be on top of Oregon existing gas tax — rated in the top 10 most expensive state gas taxes in the nation.
A 35-cent gas tax will be on Oregons already high gas prices. Data Pandas ranks Oregon as the fourth highest gas price state in 2024.
AND….
A surge of last minute votes* for Democrat challenger and labor organizer Lesly Muñoz has worked to defeat incumbent State Representative Tracy Cramer. This secures the Democratic Party candidates at 60% vote control in both the Oregon State House and Oregon State Senate. At the much watched 60% vote margin it is a super-majority where it is not only a comfortable lead it is also the legal threshold to pass tax increases.
* A surge of last minute votes from a dirty voter registration list sounds suspicious to me but what the heck!