Oregon tosses out the first snow ball??

US State budgets north and south, east and west, and most points in between are busted.

New Year but No Relief for Strapped States

Looking at its choices, Oregon has elected to raise taxes.

Oregon voters OK tax hikes on wealthy, businesses

So does that little bit of populism neutralize the Brown election win in Massachusetts?

More to the point, as the Christian Science Monitor rhetorically asks,

Will Americans raise taxes to curb deficits? Oregon a test case.

A vote in Oregon Tuesday will resonate far beyond the Cascade Mountains as a gauge of whether Americans will support tax hikes to keep budget-strapped governments afloat.

Several states raised taxes last year on high-income earners, as the measure in Oregon would do. But in Oregon, the issue is directly in voters hands, not with the state legislature.

And Oregon voters handed out a tax hike.