Get Ready For A New Tax (Portland: real estate, taxes, live)

[Nell Plotts]

So do motor vehicle drivers who also pay through gasoline taxes. I for one am not happy with cyclists not kicking $ in. We need to license cyclists and their vehicles just as we do automobiles.

Anyone want to muster a recall of the Mayor and City Commissioners?

[WaikikiBoy]

This new tax is the brainchild of Commissioner Steve Novick. He Originally set it up as a tax and polled the population to gauge support in an election. I think the poll showed a little more than 50% support. Thinking that was too close, they changed it from a monthly tax to a monthly fee to avoid the vote.

It is also set to take effect July of next year so that if it gets challenged and put to a vote, they can work through the vote and still stay on their time frame.

[Nell Plotts]

I am willing to circulate petitions...

[skiffrace]

Any political science or sociology PhDs? Here is a dissertation proposal: "The correlation between the homeownership rates and the approval rates of ballot tax measures". Has a study like this been ever done before?
Is it possible that renters are more likely to vote "yes" on tax measures than homeowners?

Perhaps so, due to their "what I can't see (i.e. directly pay for) can't hurt me".

The conventional wisdom claims "renters pay all the taxes indirectly through their rent".
As often, the conventional "wisdom" is wrong.

In a free rental market (as opposed to rent-controlled "markets") rents are determined by the ratio of supply vs. demand. If the rental market is weak, the property owners cannot pass-on the tax increases to the renters, they simply have to absorb it, thus reducing their profit (if they have any)
Example: Omaha or Lincoln NE. Those cities have astronomical tax rates, especially if calculated as % of their home value, yet rents there are rock-bottom.
On the other end of the spectrum, look at our neighbor Seattle. Low property taxes, yet rents skyrocketing due to strong demand.

Everybody should have a good personal insight on this issue because virtually everybody, even current homeowners, was a renter at some point in life.

It's easy to mark "Yes" on the "It's for the children!" ballot if you never have to write the check.
If it is several thousand dollars of your hard-earned money, you will think long and hard before checking that same "Yes" box.

When you buy a house, just like when you have children, your view of the world undergoes a dramatic change.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

So do motor vehicle drivers who also pay through gasoline taxes. I for one am not happy with cyclists not kicking $ in. We need to license cyclists and their vehicles just as we do automobiles.

Anyone want to muster a recall of the Mayor and City Commissioners?

I agree with you.

In my city we only use gas tax for road repairs, but the state keeps taking a bigger share. We need a new Governor.

[Nell Plotts]

Yesterday we drove down Rosa Parks for the first time in years. Husband observed the new (at least to us) bike lanes and commented that they will spend their money on bike lanes but not on sidewalks and pedestrian safety improvements where people have been killed. Just exactly where are their priorities????

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Yesterday we drove down Rosa Parks for the first time in years. Husband observed the new (at least to us) bike lanes and commented that they will spend their money on bike lanes but not on sidewalks and pedestrian safety improvements where people have been killed. Just exactly where are their priorities????

That is true, East Portland does get the short end of the stick. I support the adding of new bike lanes in the city, but the city should also be working to put sidewalks on every street in Portland.

[Nell Plotts]

Reflecting how Portland has incorporated areas of East Portland they were more interested in increasing the tax base but didn't make a commitment to bring those communities up to city standards such as sidewalks. Usually when a property is developed installing sidewalks is a condition of a building permit. If one looked at the age of the abutting properties odds are they pre-dated incorporation and weren't required to provide sidewalks. What burns me is that now property owners who did provide side walks will be paying for that neglect. Frankly I would be happy to see a fee assessed on properties with no sidewalk that is set aside for their sidewalk construction - maybe in some special account managed by the COUNTY (so that the City could not divert the funds).

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Reflecting how Portland has incorporated areas of East Portland they were more interested in increasing the tax base but didn't make a commitment to bring those communities up to city standards such as sidewalks. Usually when a property is developed installing sidewalks is a condition of a building permit. If one looked at the age of the abutting properties odds are they pre-dated incorporation and weren't required to provide sidewalks. What burns me is that now property owners who did provide side walks will be paying for that neglect. Frankly I would be happy to see a fee assessed on properties with no sidewalk that is set aside for their sidewalk construction - maybe in some special account managed by the COUNTY (so that the City could not divert the funds).

Possibly, I have always wanted to see East Portland reach the same standards as the rest of Portland. It would be nice to see the city focus on that part of the city seeing it is seeing some of the most growth.

[WaikikiBoy]

If you google Portland Road Tax you'll find info about it. Note though how they talk about road repair and don't mention the details that first they will hire 25 new employees and that 40% goes to bike lanes. Those details were at the city council meeting.