The Thirst for Freedom

In a “brilliant” move the State of Oregon (my former home) has apparently implemented a tax increase in response to state budget shortfalls.

Idaho, claiming to be more business friendly, has issued an invitation for businesses in Oregon to move to Idaho! Sounds like a backfire!

It will be interesting to see if companies actually abandon Oregon.

Here is an excerpt from a letter from Idaho’s Governor to folks in Oregon that I found at MyFreedomPost.com:

Other states, however, have chosen some interesting and in my view counterproductive approaches. Last month, for example, Oregon voters approved their legislature’s decision to raise taxes on the wealthy and on many businesses by $727 million. The immediate result was that my phone started ringing – and so did phones over at our Department of Commerce. It seems that word has spread about our Project 60 initiative, and that we are open for business, including theirs!

The businesses that have called are emotional about this subject, and they have every right to be. Rising costs – especially during a recession – could put some employers out of business, or at least prompt layoffs. More than 2,000 Oregonians joined a Facebook group to protest the tax increase and commiserate about the repercussions. No less an Oregon business icon than Nike’s Phil Knight calls it “Oregon’s Assisted Suicide Law II.”  [Read More]

The original source of the letter is a press release from the State of Idaho here: http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/press/pr2010/prmar10/pr_020.html

I wonder how long it will take Oregon to figure out that if they tax business into oblivion, there will be no more businesses to tax?