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The Cultural Trust supports culture throughout the state, not just the arts.  For example, the library in Hood River, which is open at 8 am and serves as a meeting place for the entire community, and the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center, both, I believe have received past support from the Trust.

posted 3 years, 2 months ago
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The Oregon Cultural Trust was established by the Oregon Legislature in 2001.  Its purpose is to provide a sustainable funding source for Oregon culture:  the humanities, heritage and the arts.  It is funded through donations, which are linked to a tax credit, and through revenue derived from the sale of "cultural" license plates.  The revenue from the cultural license plate is dedicated to the trust, much as the revenue from the salmon plate is dedicated to salmon and watershed preservation.

In tough economic times, there is a universal expectation for budgets to tighten,  and anticipation of having to do more work with fewer resources.  There is not, however, an expectation of having to return revenue that has already been earned and allocated.  This is, however, precisely what the legislature is contemplating for the cultural license plate.  In one bill under consideration, revenues from the cultural plate, going back to 2003, with interest, would be taken from the Oregon Cultural Trust and diverted to the general fund.

When I bought my cultural license plates in 2005, I chose to tax myself voluntarily in order to support the cultural heritage of my state.  I did not pay extra for my license plate to give it unconditionally to the legislature.  The program was presented to me as a dedicated income stream for a specific purpose, and I was willing to give money to that purpose. 

Suppose I had made a donation to a private charity for a specific purpose; for example, to a community center to buy new large print books for their reading room.  If that community center were then to take my money and use it to pay the janitor, they would be in dereliction of their fiscal duty, and subject to prosecution.  It would be considered a misuse of funds, and it is against the law.

The legislature’s proposal to redirect retroactively funds raised specifically for the Cultural Trust seems to me to be equally suspect.

posted 3 years, 2 months ago
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