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Kitzhaber To Unveil New Spending Plan

Chris Phan
/
Flickr

Fresh off a successful re-election campaign, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber plans to unveil a two-year spending plan Monday.

The Governor will propose ways to spend nearly $18 billion in general fund revenue. The largest chunk of that money by far comes from personal income taxes. And Kitzhaber doesn't expect that to change in the near future.

"We're not going to be passing a sales tax in this state anytime soon,” he said. “So I think the question is: What are some more modest changes one could make in the tax structure?"

The governor suggested a possible cut in capital gains taxes to spur economic growth. He'd pair that with tax breaks for low income workers. The biggest share of the state budget typically goes toward education.

State lawmakers get their say in the matter, too.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.