At a time when the economy is waning nationwide, businesses and entrepreneurs are on the look-out for any advantage they can find.  But Oregon’s high spending and over-reliance on unbearable personal & corporate income and capital gains taxes makes the state a less attractive place to locate a business to, or keep one going.

Now, Governor Kulongoski is proposing even higher taxes on nearly all Oregonians by abolishing the “kicker” rebate for state income taxes.  This refund is money that belongs in the taxpayer pockets rather than in the hands of wasteful government bureaucracy.  There are better ways to balance the budget and create a stable revenue stream than asking Oregonians to pay more taxes.  What’s needed in Salem is a leader who is committed to fiscal discipline and creating an environment job opportunities flourish.

The first step to lowering taxes and giving business a fighting chance is to change the way we budget in Salem.  State government spending must be rolled back so that we can alleviate the heavy tax burden on Oregon businesses and families.  As Governor, Chris Dudley will use the power of the line item veto to eliminate wasteful spending and force Salem to budget responsibly.

Chris Dudley supports bringing Oregon’s state spending back in line with economic realities.  As Oregon families are coping with difficult economic times by spending less, state government should do the same. Chris proposes the development of a meaningful savings account that sets aside money during good times for use during downturns, therefore preventing the need for new higher taxes.

In the past 2 years, 127,400 people have lost jobs in Oregon. That’s nearly the population of Salem or Eugene. And behind every lost job is a weaker family, a lost taxpayer and a little less hope.

Even worse, Oregon has fewer private sector jobs today than it did a decade ago. Think about that, fewer jobs than 10 years ago. And the rate of “underemployment,” or full-time job-seekers who have settled for part-time work, is 38% higher than the national average. Our state is in a jobs crisis.

All the legislature and Governor have done about this is punish job creators with higher taxes, cannibalize our education system with out-of-control pension costs, and let government spending grow at an unsustainable rate.

To rebuild our job base in Oregon, Chris believes we need:

• A corporate and personal income tax structure that doesn’t put Oregon at a greater competitive disadvantage versus other states

• Regulations that treat industries equally and doesn’t just favor those in fashion

• A focus on retaining existing Oregon businesses that is just as aggressive as our efforts to recruit new ones

• A concerted effort to stabilize Oregon’s rural economies, including specific strategies to support the agriculture, timber and seafood industries

• A transportation infrastructure that provides for the efficient movement of goods as much as the efficient movement of people

Nearly one-third of Oregon ninth graders don’t make it to graduation on schedule. Chris feels this is unacceptable. Oregon must improve both its expectations of our students, and our education delivery system. Chris supports ideas to refocus our education system towards achieving results and not just moving kids through the grades. Outcomes are more important than process. Oregon must also provide greater access to advanced placement and concurrent credit courses to ensure that every student is consistently challenged and nobody is biding their time until the next grade.

One cost of education that requires immediate containment is Oregon’s Public Employee Retirement System, or PERS. PERS isn’t some abstract policy issue; it’s a real problem threatening our education system right now. As pension costs associated with education rise, less money can be spent on teacher salaries and benefits, school infrastructure and extra-curricular activities. Chris believes real PERS reform is fundamental to saving K-12 education in Oregon.

Sadly, Oregon ranks 45th in the nation in per-student higher education spending. Enrollment at state colleges and universities grew nearly 3% over last year, and yet state funding for the current biennium was cut by 9.6% relative to the legislatively approved 2007-2009 state budget. Despite the cut in funding, Oregon colleges and universities remain prisoners of Salem micromanagement, with over 6,300 line items in the state budget.

In order to keep up with growing enrollment, and increase per-student spending, Oregon’s colleges and universities need greater autonomy—to set their own tuition rates, better manage their own costs, and take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities without wading through state government red tape.

Chris Dudley supports the direction former University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer outlines in his plan for reforming Oregon’s higher education system. Oregon must offer its colleges and universities the tools to adequately and sustainably fund their operations. These needed reforms include transitioning universities into public corporations similar to Oregon Health and Science University. This step would allow greater financial flexibility, yet retain a state-level accountability function necessary to ensure adherence to the universities’ public mission.

Investing in higher education will yield real dividends for Oregon’s economy. The average full-time worker with a four year college degree earns 75% more than workers holding a high school diploma alone. Oregon will only attain the economy it educates itself for, and funding of Oregon’s colleges and universities needs to reflect that reality.

Yet today Oregon’s natural resource sectors are struggling under low commodity prices, stiff foreign competition and increasingly burdensome regulations. Unemployment in some resource-dependent Oregon counties has topped 20% in the current recession. One of the keys to turning around Oregon’s economy is to reinvigorate its natural-resource economy.

As Governor, Chris Dudley will support policies that provide greater opportunity to cut trees, harvest fish and plant crops.

Many of Oregon’s agriculture, timber and seafood industry challenges can only be solved at the federal level, but that’s no reason for an Oregon Governor to sit on the sidelines. As Governor, Chris Dudley will be an advocate for Oregon’s farmers, ranchers, foresters and fishermen. Federal policies for timber harvest are overly restrictive and must allow greater management for the benefit of people and our forests. Fishing regulations are not providing adequate harvest opportunities due to lack of scientific data, with harvest regulations that shut down fishing quickly, but loosen too slowly when science indicates they should.

Natural resource industries will always be a part of the Oregon economy. It’s time state leaders stop writing their epitaph, and instead help position them as an environmentally and economically sustainable pillar of a modern Oregon economy.

Chris supports efforts to improve the health of our rivers and streams, by empowering people to initiate restoration efforts in their own watersheds, in cooperation with private landowners. Our farmers and ranchers are some of the best stewards of Oregon’s environment, and their involvement in both river and land conservation will be critical to any successful strategy.

Chris supports the development of alternative energy solutions, like biomass, a home-grown alternative energy which is beginning to take shape in places like Lake County. Here foresters and businesses are teaming up to solve two problems at once—a need for energy and a need to clear overcrowded forests of dead and dying wood fiber.

Sustainability is not only a good idea, it’s also good business. Efforts to reduce energy consumption and emissions, reuse some materials and recycle others, are all strategies that will create a stronger foundation for Oregon’s economy.