Irked to No End

Our state just concluded a bungling mess of a legislative session in June. One of the big hairballs that our state is now going to choke on is a huge business tax. Why does this bother me so much?

Because I find articles like these, not in my local press. I find it in other state's press. Click here.

Bottom line--Denver wooed a wind turbine company away from Portland with tax incentives. Twenty five current jobs are going to Denver, with the potential of up to 45 more in growth. Why am I irked so much? This is not the first time this has happened to Portland, not by a longshot.

Two years ago, Freightliner, huge international manufacturer of big rig trucks moved away from Portland to South Carolina, and took over 1,000 jobs with it. It moved a gargantuan employee base at huge expense to do it too. Why? It was cheaper to move all those people at a huge expense than to continue to pay the taxes this city puts on big business.

Let's go back to the turbine company that took 25 jobs to Denver. It is not just jobs that go to Denver. Here is my brainstorming list of what else goes to Denver:

1) For each one of those jobs, there is a spouse, girlfriend, or boyfriend that also moves away.

2) When a person, in this case let's assume 50 (including the significant others) people, move away, they are taking with them their ability to pay taxes in this city. Taxes the city already receives through property taxes, etc.

3) Any of those couples that move that children with them, take their school enrollment with them as well. That is fewer children to enroll in our local school, also generating enrollment dollars. Especially with Race to the Top dollars that Obama is flashing in front of states right now. Enrollment is key. Those children are gone to another state for their enrollment.

4) Local businesses that rely on these 25 people and their families are now affected. Grocery stores, hair salons, lawn mowing services, gas stations, banks, etc. They have now lost a small consumer base to Denver as well.

5) Let's not forget the housing market. Portland is one of the most defunct real estate markets in the country right now. Yes, it's showing signs of improvement, but it's not vibrant by a long shot. Because these people are moving, we have a good handful more houses sitting vacant waiting for buyers. Denver just gained 25 potential homebuyers. Those homebuyers will also be paying income taxes in Colorado as well as property taxes upon purchasing their home.

6) We also don't want to forget one other important detail, this company has a growth projection of 45 more jobs. That means 45 fewer people will be using Colorado's government assistance for the unemployed. That means the unemployment number for Colorado will change a little bit in the right direction. Portland now has the continued cost of not having 45 people gainfully employed.

Keep in mind, if anyone hasn't driven up the Columbia Gorge lately beyond the town of The Dalles, we have a huge potential in Oregon for wind energy. Look at the horizon after passing The Dalles (which I do at least once a week for my work) and what do you see? Wind turbines by the hundreds. Where? Mostly on the Washington side of the gorge, not the Oregon side. The Oregonians in those communities, most recently Seven Mile, have run wind turbines companies out. Why is the gorge, specifically that section of the gorge, so great for wind turbines? It's farmland that is constantly windy. The turbines are not on wildlife refuges, National Parks, bird sanctuaries, etc. They are on private land, and those landowners are making hand over fist in income leasing their farmland to these turbine companies and grazing their cattle or farming their land. Oregonians along the gorge, as well as here in Portland with the high business taxes, have run wind turbine companies out of our state.

In the last two weeks the hill between this road and the ridge has about 12 new turbines on it. See those spaghetti looking roads? They are the roads that lead up to the new turbines that are there now. All of these pictures are taken in Washington, not Oregon--by me.

Okay, so these farmers now are in a higher tax bracket, paying higher income and property taxes, paying off their debt, not foreclosing on their farms, etc. Keeping people not only gainfully employed, but downright wealthy. Because they are farmers, they are also hiring workers and keeping them and their families employed. I personally know of several farmers, because they are leasing their land, are now retired making six figures a year. Show me someone who can say that in this economy? Better yet, show me someone in Portland that has that kind of wealth as a blue collar worker.

And we are letting a wind turbine company slip through our fingers? The potential to bring that kind of industry to Oregon. I am not talking jobs, but an industry.

Not only that, we Oregonians claim to be so "green", we are running an obviously "green" industry right out of here. I am not joking, this is happening, has happened, and I am hoping it doesn't keep happening.

I can pick this apart even more, but I have a headache now as I remember this is one of many many businesses uprooting from Portland, going elsewhere. All because this city can't seem to realize that heavily taxing a business upfront means a chain reaction of lost revenue at a higher cost in the future.

Can someone get our illustrious mayor, Sam Adams, out of the bathroom and show him my blog?