1. American Values: Oregon will continue to violate more and more American values and American freedoms because northwestern Oregon has 79% of Oregon’s population and voters. Fortunately, Boise has only 13% of Idaho’s population. 

2. Law and Order: Oregon refuses to protect citizens from criminals, rioters, wildfire arsonists, illegals, and the homeless, but then infringes on your right to defend your family with firearms.  Idaho enforces the law.

3. Low Tax: Idaho is the state with the 8th smallest tax burden, and Oregon ranks 33rd, according to https://taxfoundation.org/tax-freedom-day-2019 . Combining all taxes together, including sales tax, the average Idahoan paid $1722 less in taxes in 2019 than the average Oregonian. That’s averaging together every adult or child, employed, retired or unemployed. Oregon tax rates continue to go up due to a lack of willingness to control spending.

4. Safety: Idaho allows forests to be managed to prevent destruction of housing from huge wildfires.

5. Thriving Economy: Idaho has less regulation than any other state, leading to low unemployment and a much lower cost of living. Idaho’s approach to regulation and taxation would allow our rural industries to revive and employ us again.

6. Representation: The ruling party in the Oregon Legislature only has two representatives from a rural district or from eastern or southern Oregon. But our reps would be in the ruling party in Idaho, where our concerns and needs would be heard.

1. Idaho would have the satisfaction of freeing more than 380,000 rural Oregonians from woke progressive blue-state law.

2. MAINTAINS RURAL VALUES IN THE IDAHO LEGISLATURE: Like the majority of Idaho residents, the people of these rural Oregon counties value faith, family, and self-reliance. In the last eight years, every county in eastern Oregon voted against the legalization of marijuana & magic mushrooms, and the decriminalization of hard drugs. These counties voted 75% Republican in the 2022 US House races – Idaho voted 67% Republican.

3. HELPS STATE BUDGET: A thorough economic analysis by independent Idaho economists proved an annual net benefit to Idaho’s state government of $170 million, and that’s an underestimate. The counties included in our proposal already have the same average income as Idaho according to US government BEA statistics. Freed from Oregon’s job-killing regulations and taxes, these counties would experience an economic surge that would benefit Idaho even more.

4. ROOM TO GROW: Currently, many people are moving to Idaho to gain political refuge from blue states. Adding a large part of Oregon to Idaho will take pressure off Idaho’s housing market by giving new people more locations to choose from. It will reduce the growth in traffic and reduce the loss of Idaho farmland to suburban housing by dispersing the influx of people.

5. PUSHES OREGON LAW FARTHER AWAY from Idaho’s population centers: In 2020 Oregon decriminalized hard drugs, making hard drugs easily available to residents of Treasure Valley. Moving the Oregon/Idaho state line will reduce the ease of access and convenience of these dangerous products to those who might be tempted by them.

1. SAVE MONEY: The average wage earner in northwestern Oregon spends $690 in taxes to subsidize southern and eastern Oregon every year, according to an economic analysis by independent economists. Are you willing to keep paying that, just so that Oregon looks big on a map?

As long as Oregon relies on income taxes, the state is going to be subsidized by high-income areas like Portland. Oregon’s state government is not funded by property taxes, so as far as the state budget is concerned, people and their incomes matter – not land area.

2. END THE GRIDLOCK in the Legislature: Without these counties, Republicans in the Oregon Legislature would no longer have the numbers to deny quorum by walking out or slow the legislature by forcing bills to be read in full. Democrats would regain the supermajority needed to pass financial laws. Oregon would make progress, becoming more liberal than Washington state, although not as liberal as New York or California.

3. Conservatives of western Oregon get the opportunity to move to a red state and still live within driving distance of their family in western Oregon.

4. CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED (self-determination): Moving the border allows each side of the state to get the kind of governance that is desired by the majority of its own residents. Oregon would no longer hold eastern Oregon captive against its will, and eastern Oregon votes would no longer affect Oregon elections. Judges elected by eastern Oregonians would not be able to block state laws and ballot initiatives.

5. NOT A LOSS: Only 3% of eastern Oregon is state-owned land – it’s almost all federal or private land. The state government’s assets and liabilities would be divided fairly on a per-capita basis.
No Republicans would be added to the US Senate or US House by this change. The effect on the electoral college would only be half an elector out of 538, or less than 0.1%. And since Idaho is already going to gain another US House seat in 2032 with or without eastern Oregon, the Republican seat that Oregon loses could be picked up by a blue state or a red state, meaning a 50% chance that Greater Idaho helps the Democrats in the US House and a 50% chance of not affecting the US House balance.