From the flurry of activity that has been happening around the proposed gas tax referendum, it’s clear that many Oregonians have strong feelings about the issue of raising fees on car registrations and raising the state gas tax by 6 cents.
Partisan historians are calling the effort “unprecedented.” Some are going out of their way to sign the petition that would repeal the Oregon Department of Transportation funding package that the Oregon State Legislative Assembly passed — barely — just this fall. In just a few short weeks, signature-gatherers say they have collected double the number of signatures they need to allow Oregon voters to vote on repealing that effort in the legislature.
Supporters of the referendum say the 6-cent increase in gas taxes, set to go into effect Dec. 31, is going to be toughest on rural communities, which typically drive longer distances to get to work and school. Referendum supporters say the increased costs for drivers are too high a price to pay. And yet what gives us pause is the dearth of alternatives that would allow Oregon’s roads to continue to be plowed and maintained.
If the effort is successful, the funding package passed by the legislature won’t go into effect at the end of this year as expected.
When the snow flies, you can bet that people in both rural and urban communities will be expecting a plow driver to hit the road before the start of the workday. But while some people have proposed alternatives that tackle spending — such as scaling back the major bridge projects in the Portland and Salem areas or changing the bond programs that dictate how new gas tax monies can be spent, the current referendum effort doesn’t really touch on alternative spending or funding issues at all. In this binary system, you’re either a “No Tax” Oregonian, or you’re not. It’s a sad duality that has largely been drawn along party lines over an issue that is as non-partisan as we can imagine. Private enterprise doesn’t take care of the growing infrastructure needs of the state – government does. And they pay for it with taxes.
This conundrum may hit people in the face long before the actual vote on the matter.
Should the signature-gathering effort be successful, voters will have the chance to vote on the issue during the November 2026 election. But the potential damage may be done long before that. If the petition effort is successful, the funding package passed by the legislature won’t go into effect at the end of this year as expected. Hundreds of ODOT workers, so recently relieved that they wouldn’t be losing their jobs, could be back on the unemployment line. With no funding package in place, ODOT will be forced to scale back service on this winter’s road plowing. It’s an odd conundrum: Supporters of the funding package will see the effects of no funding package playing out for a full year before voters will have a chance to say whether they wanted it or not. The gas tax repeal may be looming, but Oregonians will get hit with the effects right away.
We live in a state that allows for initiatives and referendums. That is part of running a government of the people, by the people. But with funding cuts coming from all directions this year, as the federal government abdicates its role at the state level, a year of deferred maintenance is not what the state needs right now. And for a community like Bend that supports an enormous tourist population, the lack of funding for travelers will be keenly felt.
This article appears in the Source December 4, 2025.
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Same old MO, threaten public safety if they don’t pass the tax.
The budget is bigger than it ever has been and it’s the budget that was requested and approved. This is simply a case of mismanagement.
But instead of accountability, they just asked for more money. And guess what, that won’t be enough either and they will look for new tax streams.
It’s way past time for every department at the state level to be audited. We all know there has been mismanagement and cases of theft and fraud.
No, no, no, no, no … there is plenty of money. Stop spending it on things that most people don’t care about (you know exactly what I mean).