Oregon is stupid (an ongoing series)
The local newspaper is all atwitter because the Oregon economy got better last year, and as a result of that, US$666 million in tax revenues will be returned to the taxpayers nevermind that the state is in the middle of a huge financial crisis which is, among other things, starving the urban school districts to death. A sensible state would take a large chunk of that tax money and shovel it into a schools trust, where it could help support Oregon schools in perpetuity, but, alas, the anti-tax loonies (who really really want to live in Venezuela, but don't want to go to the trouble of learning how to speak Spanish) are sitting like Wormtongue by the ears of the gullible taxpayers and have been whispering "We don't need schools! We don't need police! We don't need anything except highways! And, thanks to revenue sharing, Portland will pay for your highways!" for long enough that they can reliably get 60% of the electorate to sign off on whatever sort of suicide pact they put on the ballot.
So I might get $1000 back on my Oregon taxes. Whoopee. That will almost make up for the pots of money that the best and I have donated to our local gradeschool (and it doesn't even make up for the approximately $2500 we've paid in tuition so #1 son can go to full-day kindergarden at this public school.) It's government by idiots, steered by public relations, and benefiting nobody except rich absentee landowners.