Ore. lawmaker calls for tax to fund mental health treatments
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A key Oregon legislator called Wednesday for a new tax to pay for a major investment in mental health treatment, saying recent mass shootings in the nation had made it "game-change time."
Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, proposed a dedicated tax or fee to raise $331 million during the next two-year budget period.
He said mental health consistently loses out to other priorities in the fight for scarce dollars from the state general fund, leaving thousands of people with untreated psychiatric illnesses.
House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, would support a dedicated fund for mental health, although there hasn't been enough time to sift through the details of funding, said Jared Mason-Gere, a spokesman for Kotek.
In the debate over preventing gun violence, everyone seems to agree on the need for better mental health treatment, Courtney said.
However, he said he's tired of hearing politicians, activists and the media talk about the issue without any serious effort to improve it.
"Either do something, or stop using the term, because you're creating an expectation and you're creating more pain, whether you know it or not," he said. "There's people that could really use the help."
Details still need to be worked out, he said, but a tax on beer and wine could be a component. He said he's not interested in seeking a ballot measure and won't use his power as Senate president to strong-arm it through the Legislature.
"If this conversation is only about dollars and cents, then we're not going to do it," Courtney said.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
well, it is an idea that might work..can we get something like this in WA?
People want to keep their guns. They blame the problem on mental health.
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Same people don't want to raise funds for treating mental health.
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Interesting....
So... Peter... thinking of investing in a Mental Health clinic are you?
let's fundamental health study to find out why people vote for Democrats.Â
That's it! It's not about the guns, they are trying to find new sources of Democratic voters.
I am thinking , how many more government's needs would emerge out of nowhere, if we would ever alowed the sales tax. It would by now 50% and claiming. Now the Feds want to tax the employer's paid healtcare, end mortgage interst write offs and more sweet deals for us. The politicians need the mental treatment more than anyone else.
It would be a good idea to do the ballt measure, and if it passes than let only the yes voters to pay for it. It is just only 331 millions, correct?  That would be the right way for them to show that they really, really care.
 I know, too idealistic.
You might know it would be a democrat who wants a new tax. Â I would bet that a lot of people with so-called mental problems are not that ill. Â I think that some of the people who treat them along with the drug manufacturers and many of the politicians who are on their payroll are pushing this so they can reap huge monetary rewards.Â
Great. They can start with the politicians. They are all free range PNW mental patients anyway.
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Here's a thought - how about doing something about all the legal drugs that people are taking that cause pshchotic behavior?
 @wondering ~  Yep, I agree 1,000%..!   Just my opinion, but I think some of the pharm manufacturers have a LOT to answer for..!   All this ad saturation - TV, radio, magazines, the Internet... all these scrip drugs pushed on consumers... and the disclaimers - all the reasons why you probably shouldn't take this drug - are longer (or in finer print) than the whole rest of the ad..!
It has always seemed to me that many of these "diseases", "syndromes", etc; especially the psych stuff, just conveniently happened to be "discovered" about the same time that the pharm manufacturers started advertising on TV... Gee, what a coincidence..! Â Â They've turned am alarmingly large part of the public, including the kids! - Â into drug-dependent hypochondriacs...
Worst thing is, it's all LEGAL, because they have the money to stuff into the pockets of the politicians..!
Certainly there are some good (and needed) scrip drugs out there, but these companies have gone w-a-y overboard..!
Treatment for outpatients? If they were so conscientious about continuing with the treatment, then fine. But some fall off the wagon, using money to buy booze, lottery tickets and ciggies. Now if they were proposing a new custodial mental health facility I might find money to support it's construction and staffing. Â
Sounds crazy, but the idea has merit if used properly. Nobody wants more taxes, but somethings got to be done with so many people needing treatment.
The BEST "TREATMENT" for the mentally ill: REAL HOUSING, REAL CAREER TRAINING, and REAL JOBS.
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85% of the homeless "Mentally Ill" MIRACULOUSLY become normal people once housed in their OWN PRIVATE APARTMENT; that's why the Poverty Pimps don't let the homeless have housing...it's always PRISON-LIKE SHELTERS where they are driven even MORE INSANE!
More money into the pockets of FILTHY-RICH State Psycho-Wackos to peddle their pills, group therapy charades, and 12-step religious AA/NA cult "HIGHER POWER" nonsense....
I was expecting to see somebody in a tiger suit.
Let's dedicate some of the $4.3 Billion in corporate welfare that was spent this biennium. (I think some conservatives just had an attack . . .)
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Amazing that we can subsidize big business (but not small business) but can't redirect 10% of that to solve a major crisis that is getting people killed.
 @ShallowEnder I said that an hour ago. Take all of the cash blown on solar companies and spend it on the crazies.
How about a Doctor Tax? They're the ones who will score big when the State starts throwing money at mental health treatment so let them pay for it.Â
 @hankhandsome They will simply pass it along to everyone else in the form of higher fees, like all taxes you're still paying for it one way or another. Maybe defund some less crucial programs and fund it that way? The government gives away a lot of our tax money for less important endeavors...
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 @gunnutz Hey, I'm all for paying for it with the our money that's wasted on welfare parasites, light rail, solar toilets, mass transit art projects, Solyndra and the rest of the solar giveaways. Just to name a few.
 @last boyscout  @gunnutz Seems like there's plenty of money available for immigrant college funds, let's use that.
 @Lori Norman The largest cut of spending is Human Services, period. Not Military, as is the common misconception.
 @JohnQ.Public  @last boyscout  @gunnutz there certainly seems to be enough for military projects, but when it comes of caring for citizen or the commons, WHERE IS IT!!
 @last boyscout  @gunnutz First step, get the brats out of subsidized schoolcare and actually RAISE THEM YOUR DAMN SELVES OR DON'T HAVE THEM.
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And that will solve 99% of the problems.
@gunnutz Quite frankly, I resent being taxed to death. How about the government learns how to be fiscally responsible before they start asking us for more?
 @theprodigal  @gunnutz #1 entitlement program - subsidized schoolcare. I'm all for removing it and requiring parents to raise and educate their own offspring.
Typical politician. Never met a tax they didn't like.
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Have they ever heard of blood out of a turnip, or water out of a stone?
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More jobs will increase the tax base. A rising tide will give people and the state more money to play with.
And still no time, space or concern for the story of the Detroit 70 year old Teacher that saved to two high school girls and himself by pulling his legal hand gun and shot the two parasites that attacked them?
 @last boyscout Shh! You'll interrupt thier anti-gun frenzy they are carefully working on.
"Ore. lawmaker calls for tax to fund mental health treatments"
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No surprise here.
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"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." - Rahm Emanuel
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The liberals are just sitting around, drooling and waiting for the opportunity if there is another shooting. My guess is that they hope for it so they can raise taxes, restrict our constitutional rights and further limit our freedoms.
Hey Democrat, are you stupid or just ignorant? Your buddy Obama and his "Obamacare" will pay for all of it. Take your new tax idea and sit on it. We can't afford your liberal Utopian ideology. And you clowns are signing another education bill? What, $11,000.00 per student isn't enough money to cover the teacher's salary?Â
How 'bout taking the money that they want to use for that light rail train-to-nowhere that nobody wants anyway, and use that towards the mental health programs they want..? Â Â
@margay1 .....there ya go ! Great idea !
We dont need another tax, Â sounds like he has a mental illness.
 @sortbait Yep only treatment only works if they want the help and many do not or will not stick with the treatment.