Anti-income tax petitioners slate one-day signature drive.

Byline: Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

Anti-tax organizers plan to collect enough signatures in a single day - Saturday, March 10 - to refer the Lane County commissioners' income tax to a vote of the people as early as September or November, a petitioner said Friday.

Petitioners need 5,577 valid signatures; they said they plan to collect 10,000. The roughly half-dozen signature-gathering sites countywide will be released Tuesday, said Bob Hooker, a chief petitioner from Creswell.

"I want to see everybody get out and get their voice heard on that Saturday," Hooker said. "It would make such a tremendously strong statement to our elected officials that hopefully this would never happen again."

The commissioners last month enacted a first-ever countywide income tax to offset the expected loss of millions of dollars annually in federal aid to rural counties. Some citizens fiercely oppose the tax, noting voters rejected an income tax for public safety in November.

The petition effort is solely targeted at the board's enactment of the tax, and is not tied to the broader debate about county spending and possible loss of the federal money, said Hooker, a 50-year-old who works in management.

"We're doing it because we said `No' to an income tax and they just went ahead and put it in on us," Hooker said.

The income tax applies to residents outside the county who come here to work, but those commuters cannot sign the petition because they wouldn't be able to vote on the matter, said Annette Newingham, Lane County election official.

Hooker said that might lend fuel to tax critics who say enactment of the income tax is taxation without representation, a main grievance among American colonists when they broke with England.

A county official could not be reached on Friday evening to address the concern. It's not unusual, though, for commuters to face taxes over which they have no say. For example, a person who commutes into another state would face whatever taxes that state imposes, without the opportunity to vote for or against them.

Congress is debating whether to renew $500 million in annual payments to Oregon and other states with federal timberland for which counties must provide services but on which they cannot levy property taxes or other fees.

Lane County government in recent years has received about $40 million annually under the program. Commissioners Faye Stewart, Bobby Green and Bill Dwyer said they enacted the income tax to avoid the possible loss of more than 250 county jobs plus a wide range of services.

The petitioners have until May 22 to collect the signatures and will carry on the drive if they fail to net enough signatures next Saturday, Hooker said. He stressed that supporters of a public vote should plan on joining next Saturday's effort.

The petitioners are getting help from the Portland-based Taxpayer Association of Oregon, but the anti-tax group is not driving the effort and none of the three chief petitioners had any prior involvement with that association, Hooker said.

Hooker said he's received more than a hundred supportive e-mails and phone calls in one day. He said he hopes to channel that energy into a momentous drive next Saturday.

"We will make history if we pull this off," Hooker said. "The people of Lane County will make history."

WHAT'S NEXT

Petitioners say they plan to collect enough signatures March 10 to refer the Lane County commissioners' income tax to a vote of the people as soon as September or November. Petitioners need 5,577 valid signatures; they say they plan to collect 10,000.

Signature-gathering sites will be released Tuesday, organizers say.

For more information: E-mail Bob Hooker at apache97426@ centurytel.net