The enormous gap separating Washington

Lawmakers in Oregon can blame their counterparts in Washington for the massive piece of unfinished business that is the Columbia River Crossing. But they'll have only themselves to blame for an equally significant piece of unfinished business related to the Public Employees Retirement System, which barring a late-session miracle will continue to siphon enormous sums from government budgets across the state.

The "grand bargain" that would combine further PERS reforms with tax hikes is technically not dead, but it's close enough to break out the lucky beads and incense. Unfortunately, Democrats and Republicans have leaped ahead to the finger-pointing stage. Both sides have legitimate beefs, but they also have a powerful common purpose: the good of the state.

Democrats are correct in pointing out Republican inconsistency. Not long ago, Senate Republicans refused to support the education budget because it was too small. But this week, they refused to go along with a compromise on PERS and taxes that would have pumped a whole lot more money into public schools. The refusal of Senate Republicans to accept even modest taxes in return for deeper reforms, meanwhile, comes at the end of a session dominated by legitimate Republican demands for deeper PERS reforms. It really makes you wonder what the party wants, doesn't it? Even the state's major business organizations supported the tax hikes as part of a compromise.

Of course, Democrats set up the poison tax-hike pill by insisting much earlier in the session upon "shared sacrifice." Tax hikes are,manufacturers and Double sided PET industry tape Products suppliers Directory. of course, a political payment extracted by the majority party in exchange for deeper cuts to the pension system, which serves a powerful component of their base, public employee unions. Democrats have conveniently ignored the fact that sacrifice, in the forms of Measures 66 and 67, had been imposed upon businesses and upper-income Oregonians already -- and in exchange for nothing.

Democrats should have agreed to meaningful PERS reforms without insisting upon tax hikes, and Republicans should have paid the political price once the two became linked.Matco Packaging Llc suppliers of BOPP tape, The additional PERS cuts justify the tax increases.Products from Global Silicon protctive film Products Suppliers.

In the end, however, neither party has done what it should. Unless something changes, the sum total of the session's reforms will be those contained in Senate Bill 822, which cut PERS costs very modestly while simply putting others off.

The effect of this outcome can be seen in the accompanying graphic. It shows how little SB822 will change the PERS rates paid by schools and just how burdensome PERS remains compared with Washington's pension system for teachers. The two systems aren't perfectly comparable. Washington's covers only teachers, for instance, while Oregon's includes classified employees and others. Still, Oregon has a long way to go before the state spends its education dollars as efficiently as Washington.Visit us to find a company offering a flexible Protective film Products.

The enormous gap separating Washington and Oregon represents potential teachers in classrooms, planners in city halls and police officers on streets. As employers reduce the stream of money diverted to retirement, they can use it either to hire people or keep them employed.

The "grand bargain" that collapsed this week can be resuscitated given sufficient political will. It's astonishing to think that it might not exist. PERS needs further reforms, schools could use a sustainable boost in funding,All the latest Releasing film Products in small size and in resumable. and the tax increases are reasonable. Legislators should stop the finger-pointing for a day or two and make one last effort to strike a deal.
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