When you use that credit card, sometimes it’s easy to forget your purchase isn’t free, even though your checkbook or your cash stays in your wallet. At some point, the bill shows up in your mailbox.

We should all be thankful we live in Oregon, not Colorado.

The recession hit hard in Colorado, as it did in Oregon. Per-capita personal income grew much more slowly in Colorado than any other state from 2000 to 2002. Since the recession began, only one other state (Massachusetts) has lost more jobs relative to overall payroll than Colorado.

Opponents of public services, claiming that Oregon has a spending problem, seek to impose on the State a new “spending limit” that would undermine state government’s capacity to deliver quality public services.

Contrary to claims that surface each year with the arrival of tax day (April 15th), household taxes in Oregon have become more affordable over the last decade. The source of the financial squeeze confronting many Oregonians is not taxes, but the rising cost of basic household budget items, including housing, health care, child care, and higher education.

Sheldon Cohen, a former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, once wrote, “People think taxation is a terribly mundane subject.

A comprehensive new analysis of research on the factors influencing business location decisions shows that state-level tax cuts have little impact on economic growth, but that public services are vital for job creation.

Opponents of public services seek to limit Oregon state government revenues to a maximum of population plus inflation growth as part of a so-called Taxpayer Bill of Rights (“TABOR”). This proposal would force drastic reductions in state services over time.

State-by-state data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that job growth in Oregon and most other states lags far behind what was projected by the Bush Administration when it lobbied for the 2003 “Jobs and Growth” tax cuts. In Oregon there were nearly 20,000 fewer jobs than what was promised by the Administration. Nationally, the shortfall was almost 1.9 million jobs.