For all the tax dollars the state collects, there's not much to show for it, generally speaking. Seems like it all goes to PERS obligations and administration, rather than improving communities.

Not to mention, they have the auto refund of the surplus, which is kinda silly, because what you'd want the state to do is setup a rainy day fund that can be safely invested for future endeavors, but no, the legislative body of 1979 made it so that if the state runs a surplus they allow everyone to get a tax "kicker"[0] instead, which is pretty short sighted IMO. Not to mention, the amount after being spread out across all of Oregons tax paying base, is really small and makes hardly a difference for the average person.

[0]: https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/the-story/oregon-kick...

I mostly agree, though I think creating slush funds from personal taxation is straight up wrong. The state should not become rich on the backs of it's citizens. Instead, we could follow Norway in using the profits of industrial sectors to fuel those slush funds. The amount of Oregonians that think infinitely taxing individuals is okay is vexing.

The bigger problem in Oregon government is the fact that our municipalities fail to do basic planning for their initiatives, so there'll be a surplus in one category and a deficit in another. This, I imagine, is where their slush fund could come in handy.

Lastly, we have a lot of corruption in this state which should be a higher priority to deal with. I was shocked in the Fagan case when I learned that we don't have anti-corruption laws to charge something as brazen as what she did.