It's February 12. The year is 43 days old. Tax Day is a mere 62 days from now. In other words, tax season is 41% over.
This year, nearly everyone with income who lives in Portland is supposed to start paying the city $35 a head to support the arts -- especially rich people arts, like the opera. Where are the forms? The tax, whose constitutionality is clearly going to be tested in a lawsuit, was passed on November 6, which was 98 days ago. And the campaign to pass it went on for months before that. What's the holdup on the reporting and payment procedures? Surely the city can't be purposely delaying the process to confound the court challengers -- can it?
Come on, Mayor Char-Lie. Lots of folks have already filed their income taxes. Let's get going on this one.
Comments (14)
Will this be a fictitious arts tax only applicable for those who reside in the land of Portlandia?
Put a bird on it!
More and more, I'm coming to the belief that the problems we have with government stem less from philosophy than they do from fundamental incompetence.
Oh the tax is already here, forms or not (City Code 5.73.020 and 070). Oddly, nothing in the code actually says that the city has to provide a system for people to pay the tax; but we're liable for it all the same. I guess we're all supposed to leave an envelope at City Hall with $35 bucks in cash and a drawing of our favorite Portland landscape (white stag sign excepted, unless you want to pay extra).
Since the "art" my taxes could support may be morally repugnant to me, or just plain ugly as sin, I refuse to serve or support the unspecified artist with my money. So sue me.
Let us ask Nick Fish, Commissioner of Housing for detailed information about all the public subsidized housing on his watch!
Apparently as I hear about it, this information is not forthcoming.
Mr. Fish, about a general meeting for all the citizens of Portland to find out about the public subsidized housing?
Is this art's tax a part of it?
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Hope Larson - A Wrinkle in Time, the Graphic Novel
Rudyard Kipling - Kim
Peter Ames Carlin - Bruce
Fran Cannon Slayton - When the Whistle Blows
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 29
At this date last year: 66
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (14)
Will this be a fictitious arts tax only applicable for those who reside in the land of Portlandia?
Put a bird on it!
Posted by Portland Native | February 12, 2013 10:35 AM
More and more, I'm coming to the belief that the problems we have with government stem less from philosophy than they do from fundamental incompetence.
Posted by Roger | February 12, 2013 10:54 AM
They know they will be sued for imposing it, can we sue them for delaying the information on how it will be payed ?
Posted by tankfixer | February 12, 2013 11:06 AM
Too late for me. Turbotax has whisked my returns into cyberspace. Sorry Portland.
Posted by Snards | February 12, 2013 11:06 AM
Oh the tax is already here, forms or not (City Code 5.73.020 and 070). Oddly, nothing in the code actually says that the city has to provide a system for people to pay the tax; but we're liable for it all the same. I guess we're all supposed to leave an envelope at City Hall with $35 bucks in cash and a drawing of our favorite Portland landscape (white stag sign excepted, unless you want to pay extra).
Posted by persona non grata | February 12, 2013 11:45 AM
PNG is right. It's cash in an envelope to be left at the reception desk.
Posted by Allan L. | February 12, 2013 12:01 PM
Since the "art" my taxes could support may be morally repugnant to me, or just plain ugly as sin, I refuse to serve or support the unspecified artist with my money. So sue me.
Posted by PDXLifer | February 12, 2013 12:11 PM
Since it is, after all, a tax to support the arts, perhaps we should pay with a drawing of a spider.
Posted by Garage Wine | February 12, 2013 12:31 PM
Is any of this money going to support Milepost 5, the taxpayer-subsidized housing for "artists"?
http://milepost5.net/
A friend who is familiar with this project tells me the qualifications for getting housing in this place are very loose and broadly defined.
For instance, there's a person there whose "art" consists of wearing and using a hula hoop everywhere. No bird required.
Posted by Frank | February 12, 2013 12:37 PM
Let us ask Nick Fish, Commissioner of Housing for detailed information about all the public subsidized housing on his watch!
Apparently as I hear about it, this information is not forthcoming.
Mr. Fish, about a general meeting for all the citizens of Portland to find out about the public subsidized housing?
Is this art's tax a part of it?
Posted by clinamen | February 12, 2013 1:18 PM
"Since it is, after all, a tax to support the arts, perhaps we should pay with a drawing of a spider."
GarageWine, that is brilliant. For anyone who has ever wanted not to pay a bill, read it.
Posted by sally | February 12, 2013 1:27 PM
Garage Wine...
Thanks, I used that link to become a Chiropractor !!!
Posted by It's Mike | February 12, 2013 4:09 PM
This being a head tax I shall refuse to pay it on the grounds that I do not smoke pot.
Posted by tankfixer | February 12, 2013 4:13 PM
I'm curious about retroactivity. Didn't the effective start date time-travel back to 1/1/2012? Good luck with that, eh.
http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F14.html
Homer: [overhearing] "Oh, sweet, trusting Marge, I can't let you down."
[holds up overdue mortgage notice] "I'll get some money somehow."
[dials phone] "Hello, Vegas? Give me 100 bucks on red..."
"D'oh! All right, I'll send you a check."
Posted by Downtown Denizen | February 13, 2013 11:03 PM