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Tax reform is necessary but won't be easy The (Eugene) Register-Guard: House Speaker Karen Minnis named 12 state representatives to the special legislative committee on tax reform the day after Standard & Poor's downgraded Oregon's credit rating. The two events are related. The bond rating agency said the downgrade came because Oregon relies too heavily on a single, volatile source of revenue - the state income tax. The tax reform committee was called into being by a bill approved in the final days of the 2003 legislative session. The committee - with 12 House members and eight yet-to-be-named state senators - are to prepare recommendations by May 31 of next year. The Legislature will convene in a special session to act on the recommendations. A strong possibility is that legislators will meet, debate, do nothing and go home. The prospects that the committee's work will lead to real progress toward tax reform were enhanced by Minnis' choice of appointees. Minnis named a broad cross-section of House members to the panel - seven Republicans and five Democrats, pragmatists and ideologues, conservatives and liberals. Tax reform proposals have no chance of winning legislative approval, to say nothing of approval by the voters, unless they can attract support from all bands of the political spectrum. The House co-chair will be Rep. Lane Shetterly, R-Dallas, chairman of the House Revenue Committee. Shetterly is an obvious choice - he's knowledgeable, creative and respected on both sides of the aisle. He'll be joined by fellow Republicans Betsy Close of Albany, Pat Farr of Eugene, Bob Jenson of Pendleton, Jeff Kruse of Roseburg, Wayne Scott of Canby and Max Williams of Tigard. This group spans the full range of opinion in the House Republican caucus - from Williams, who has said that Oregon needs a sales tax, to Kruse, who is reflexively suspicious of taxation in general. The five Democrats are Phil Barnhart of Eugene, Mark Haas of Raleigh Hills, Betsy Johnson of Scappoose, Diane Rosenbaum of Portland and Joanne Verger of Coos Bay. Minnis could have slighted the minority, but instead chose some of its most talented and productive members. One-third of the committee's members represent portions of Lane County. It won't be easy for Kruse and Rosenbaum, or Barnhart and Close, to reach an agreement on how Oregon's tax system needs to be changed. Adding eight senators to the mix won't make the job any less challenging. But if this group can't reach a consensus, the chances are no better in the Legislature as a whole or among the people of Oregon. A successful tax reform effort will be one that attracts support from people who ordinarily find each other on opposite sides of the political fence. The committee should bear in mind that it can achieve results in Oregon's tax system without devising a comprehensive reform plan. Establishing an adequate rainy day reserve fund, modifying or eliminating the "kicker" law that prevents Oregon from setting money aside during periods of economic expansion, and giving local communities greater flexibility in supporting educational and other services would improve the existing system without fundamental changes. But the committee should also begin with the idea that all options, including fundamental reform, can be debated and pursued. A committee representing a broad cross-section of political opinion will not agree on every point. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -