Yesterday's Boregonian had its usual Sunday feature - "Short Takes". Our latest winner in the thuggish, misinformation canard contest goes to Paul Wilson of Lake Oswego. This shorty persists in the delusion that State and Federal retirees do not pay Oregon Income taxes. He further suggests that our Governor take a look at this exemption as a way of repatriating funds for the Oregon Treasury.
I hate to destroy people's fantasies, but Oregon public retirees have been paying state income taxes since 1991 and the Federal employees are not exempt either. Both are treated equally in compliance with the Davis v Michigan case decided by the US Supreme Court in 1988, and the Hughes v Oregon case decided by the Oregon Supreme Court in 1991.
It is bad enough that PERS members and retirees get bashed for the structure of the PERS system over which they have no control, but it just turns thuggish when both letter writers and the Oregonian persist in allowing this kind of continuous sloppiness.
Obviously in their zeal to cut staff, the Oregonian lost almost all of its editorial integrity (if it ever had any), Its editorial currency is worthless. Perhaps the only good to come out of this will be another round of cancellations of subscriptions.
1 comment:
I just canceled mine, but it was because they just upped my bill by 30% per month.
Combine that with a Monday paper that is so thin it regularly blows right off my driveway in a light breeze, the reduced-to-useless TV section, and their endless experimentation with the comics and puzzles, and there's not much to look forward to in the morning anymore.
Sic Semper Tyrannis
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