On July 10, Salem City Council voted to adopt an employee-paid payroll tax. The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce has long supported sending this tax to a vote of the Salem electorate.
Oregon Business & Industry (OBI) filed a petition to refer the ordinance to the voters on the November 2023 ballot. Today, we learned that Refer the Tax on Salem Workers petitioners submitted more than 10,000 signatures to the City of Salem. This is more than double the number of valid signatures needed to qualify the referendum for the ballot.
The City of Salem will now review the submitted petitions for compliance with city codes and state election laws. The petitions are then turned over to the county clerk, who is tasked with validating them.
More information is available at www.letsalemvote.com/sign. The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce is available as a drop-off location for completed petitions.