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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Man in jail for allegedly groping jogger on Bear Creek Greenway ... Mail Tribune 100, Feb. 9, 1916 ... Oregon and Alaska lift suspension of troubled insurance carrier Moda ... Man in jail for allegedly groping jogger on Bear Creek Greenway ... Mail Tribune 100, Feb. 9, 1916 ... Oregon and Alaska lift suspension of troubled insurance carrier Moda ... OUR VIEW Our View: Kicking state government down the road Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted May. 17, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted May. 17, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Here we go again. The state's economy is on the rebound, and the state economist, being cautious as economists tend to do, underestimated the tax revenue the state would collect. So the "kicker" — a misguided and misunderstood law if ever there was one — will send nearly half a billion dollars back to Oregon income tax filers in the form of a credit on next year's tax returns. Oregon is one of the only states in the country that relies almost entirely on the income tax to pay for government services. That's frustrating enough, because the income tax fluctuates wildly depending on how many people are working and how much they earn. But Oregon is the only state in the country that, when the economy is on the upswing, takes the normal increase in income tax revenue and sends it back to taxpayers a couple hundred dollars at a time whenever tax collections exceed official projections by at least 2 percent. No one's tax rate went up. No one paid more taxes this year than last, unless they earned more, which is how the income tax works. This isn't money Oregonians overpaid; it's just that more of them are paying than the economists expected. Oregonians will take that money, thank you very much, because voters put the kicker law into the state Constitution, and it can be removed or altered only by another vote of the people, which is hardly likely. We get the general distrust of government that the kicker reflects. Lawmakers have themselves to blame to a large extent because of their tendency over the years to spend all the money that came in rather than banking it for the next economic downturn. But the kicker prevents that kind of prudent budgeting, even if legislators wanted to do it — and many of them do. The good news this time is, the economy appears to be improving quickly and steadily enough that even after the rebates go out, the state will have an additional $463 million to spend — or save. The bad news is, it could have been more than twice that. And despite the usual complaints about government waste and fraud, there are plenty of vital services that still have not recovered from cuts that came down during the recession and before. Public schools, for one; higher education, for another; mental health treatment, roads and bridges, and the list goes on. Given the political impossibility of doing away with the kicker entirely, here's a less drastic change that might have at least a chance of winning voter approval: The kicker law says that when tax collections exceed the forecast amount by at least 2 percent, the entire increase goes back to taxpayers. Not the amount above 2 percent; all of it. Suppose instead that the state sent back 1 percent, or 1.5 percent, and kept the rest of the increase, to be saved in a rainy day fund or spent on public education. That way, the state would get some benefit from an improving economy, and at least begin to even out the peaks and valleys of a volatile tax system. Even that modest reform is probably wishful thinking, but it's worth discussing. Maybe one day, Oregon can look forward to no longer being the only state government in the nation that gets kicked when it's up. MailTribune.com Writer Posted May. 17, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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