Opinion ID: 836326
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: amends constitution: preserves certain tax breaks if upper class, other taxpayers benefit

Text: Petitioner contends that the Attorney General's yes and no vote result statements convey the same misleading message that we have discussed above in connection with the caption. We agree. The Attorney General's result statements fail to disclose that enacting or rejecting the measure will affect the tax breaks of classes of taxpayers other than those in the lower and middle classes. Because the Attorney General's result statements are misleading and likely will confuse voters, we modify those statements as follows: RESULT OF YES VOTE: Yes vote preserves certain tax breaks if upper class, other taxpayer classes benefit. RESULT OF NO VOTE: No vote leaves Constitution without provision preserving tax breaks if upper class, other taxpayers benefit. Finally, petitioner contends that the summary suffers from the same defect that we have discussed above. He asserts that a major effect of the measure will be to protect tax breaks benefitting upper-class taxpayers and that the summary must disclose that major effect. The Attorney General responds that he prefers to avoid the debate about what the phrase other taxpayers means. As a result, the Attorney General's summary quotes the indefinite classifications set forth in the measure. The summary of a ballot title must contain a concise and impartial statement that summarizes the measure and its major effect. ORS 250.035(2)(d) (1997). Repeating a measure's terms in the summary may be appropriate as long as the resulting summary satisfies ORS 250.035(2)(d) (1997). We recognize, however, that merely repeating the terms of a measureparticularly ambiguous termsmight fail to summarize either the measure or its major effect. Applying the principles of Bernard and Earls here, we conclude that the Attorney General's summary does not comply substantially with ORS 250.035(2)(d) (1997), because the repetition in the first and second sentences of the summary of the indefinite label, other taxpayers, from the first sentence of the measure fails to disclose the protection that that sentence would create for tax breaks benefitting upper class taxpayers. Additionally, we must modify the last sentence of the summary to indicate that the second sentence of the measure concerns measures that purport to limit certain tax breaks for any class of taxpayers. Accordingly we modify the summary as follows: SUMMARY: Amends Constitution. The Oregon Constitution currently says nothing about preserving tax breaks if upper class, other classes of taxpayers would benefit. The measure would preserve voter-approved tax breaks, for lower and middle class taxpayers, if upper class taxpayers also would benefit. Additionally, a measure that gives a tax break to lower and/or middle class taxpayers shall not be superseded or invalidated by a measure that limits certain tax breaks for any class of taxpayers. We certify to the Secretary of State the following ballot title for Initiative Petition 113: