Just a few days ago, the Oregon Legislature passed SB 1507A—a bill that will limit the tax giveaways to corporations created by Congress in 2025. 

I am incredibly proud of the role OCPP played in providing legislators, advocates, and the public with a clear analysis of the revenue impact of H.R 1 on our state budget. The OCPP team took a moment to celebrate when the House voted to send the bill to the Governor for her signature.

Center staff quickly moved from celebration to the next task, research project, video explainer, conference call, and planning meeting. We all realized that, while this represented an important victory that will impact people’s lives, there is so much more to do. To achieve economic justice for all Oregonians, policy wins are individual pieces of a puzzle that move us closer to our collective goal. And the OCPP team is ready to keep going, to keep fighting.

It feels like the moment we are in — a moment of creeping authoritarianism that would worry deeply the founders of the country — calls for a bigger vision, for a more consequential set of changes that protect our democracy and create true shared prosperity. From my perspective, we must have an economy that works for working people if we’re to make the case that a democratic republic is the fairest form of government. 

This may require a bolder push for taxing billionaire wealth and for greater corporate transparency on taxes, both of which check the power of money. Perhaps it will require more creative ways for employers and employees to work together in the pursuit of shared prosperity. But most of all, it requires that we come together to have these conversations, to question the status quo, and be willing to take a different course.

For more than four decades, the dominant economic narrative has been that if we cut taxes on the rich and corporations, they will invest in our state and prosperity will follow. But the reality is that trickle-down economics has led to vast inequality and widespread economic insecurity. 

OCPP is committed to self-reflection in asking ourselves: how do we think outside the box without compromising our values? For example, how could we help create a proactive vision for creating an environment where Oregon-based businesses trying to get a foothold and grow have an opportunity to do so without getting outcompeted by multinational corporations? Or, what threat does artificial intelligence pose to Oregon workers and workers’ rights, and how should the state respond? As we’ve done for 25 years, we’re willing to think outside the box for the benefit of all Oregonians.

What would thinking outside the box look like? It would be a serious commitment to invest in people and places. It would be Oregon focusing on having quality accessible health care, a cradle to career approach to education, and reliable child care — all critical in creating a more attractive place to grow a business and nurture a healthy workforce. It would mean investing in the infrastructure needed to meet the demands of a modern economy and the challenges of climate change.

The challenge for OCPP is clear: we need to continue to grow our capacity to tackle these big issues. We need your partnership to do that. The challenge for Oregon is also clear: we need to think outside the box to consider new ideas and unorthodox approaches to craft a people-centered policy agenda aimed at creating truly shared prosperity. Oregon needs OCPP to do that. Now, more than ever.