December 31st is the last day for you to use your 2022 Oregon state income tax credit for political contributions.
 
The credit is equal to the amounts of your qualifying political contributions during 2022, up to $50 per person or $100 per couple. You can contribute those amounts to the Oregon Progressive Party and get it all back on your 2022 state income tax return.
 
You are eligible if:

  • You are an Oregon resident.
  • You will submit an Oregon tax return for 2022.
  • Your adjusted gross income was less than $75,000 (or less than $150,000 for couples filing jointly).

(or donate in January to earn your 2023 tax credit)


We testified on 93 bills during the 2021 regular session and 87 bills during the 2019 regular session--more than all other Oregon minor political parties. See Our Testimonies 2015 - 2022. We were very often the only progressive voice in the room (or on the Zoom).
Oregon Campaign Finance Reform

The Oregon Progressive Party ("OPP") has led the way to achieve real campaign finance reform in Oregon. But the road is difficult. The big donors like giving unlimited funds to Oregon politicians, which they can still do (except to candidates running for City of Portland or Multnomah County public offices, because voters there adopted our ballot measures).

In 2016 OPP played a pivotal role in earning the 89% "yes" vote victory on the Multnomah County Charter Campaign Finance Reform Measure 26-184. It was OPP members on the County Charter Review Committee that led the effort to put the measure on the ballot. The measure It prohibits all corporate campaign contributions, limits individual contributions to $500, and requires that political ads name their 5 largest funders.

In 2018 OPP again played a pivotal role in earning the 87.4% "yes" vote victory on the Portland City Charter Campaign Finance Reform Measure 26-200, which adopted the same changes.

These huge victories gave us power at the 2019 session of the Oregon Legislature, which referred to the November 2020 ballot an amendment to the Oregon Constitution (Measure 107) to allow statewide limits on campaign contributions--nullifying the infamous 1997 decision of the Oregon Supreme Court.

Before the November 2020 vote, the Oregon Supreme Court in April 2020 reversed the 1997 decision, clearing the way for enforcement of limits on campaign contributions in Oregon. This culminated a 14-year fight by our attorney, Dan Meek, to get this reversal.

In November 2020 Oregon voters enacted Measure 107 with a 78% "yes" vote. It authorizes both the state government and local governments to adopt limits on contributions and disclosure requirements, including requiring political ads to identify their funders. It also authorizes the people using the initiative power to adopt such laws.

But the Oregon Legislature has refused to adopt limits on campaign contributions or spending or any meaningful requirements that political ads identify their funders. Even The Oregonian editorialized that the leading legislators' bills in 2021 were far more loophole than limit. Senator Jeff Golden and Representative Andrea Salinas introduced effective bills, which did not pass.

Now we are central to the coalition of democracy-focused groups
that have drafted 2 statewide campaign finance reform ballot
measures for 2024. See Honest Elections Oregon.
The Oregon Progressive Party is working hard to
achieve results that both major parties do not really support:

  • Enact real campaign finance reform in Oregon

  • Limit political campaign contributions; ban those by corporations

  • Require all political ads to identify their top 4 donors

  • Enact carbon taxes and other policies to combat climate change

  • End tax subsidies that encourage forest clearcutting; control aerial spraying of pesticides

  • Create independent redistricting commission to define districts for Oregon Legislature and U.S. Congress

  • Implement Instant Runoff Voting (either STAR Voting or Ranked Choice Voting) for all elections of public officials

  • End the Electoral College; elect Presidents by popular vote

  • Enact Medicare for All (single-payer) comprehensive health care; free universal distribution of COVID tests and masks

  • Increase minimum wages (to $24 or more, now) for everyone
  • End police violence and unequal treatment

  • End "corporate personhood" and "money is speech"

  • Oppose Wall Street bailouts

  • Achieve employment for all (public works, WPA style)

  • Safeguard the Social Security and Medicare programs from cuts and privatization

  • Cut military spending, foreign bases and foreign entanglements (we opposed the Democrats' record 2021, 2022, and 2023 military spending bills)

  • End funding for the military industrial congressional complex; end the endless wars and new wars in Ukraine

  • Oppose "free trade" agreements that do not include strong enforceable provisions for protection of labor rights and the environment; support local products & services

  • Oppose Pacific export terminals for fossil fuels and the trains that bring them (coal, oil, LNG)

  • Increase federal and Oregon taxes on corporations and the wealthy; close loopholes

  • Create State and municipal banks and stop sending $1 billion of Oregon taxpayer money to Wall Street every year in fees and high interest rates

  • Enable effective use of the initiative and referendum powers in the age of COVID, which makes gathering masses of signatures very difficult

  • Reduce toxic emissions; replace diesel delivery trucks in the Portland area with human-electric powered small vehicles, as adopted in several cities in Europe
David Delk
David Hess
delk@progparty.org
hess@progparty.org
503-232-5495
503-548-2797
Oregon Progressive Party