OR: ELECTION: Voters slam the brakes, soundly reject Measure 120 hike on gas tax

As gas prices at the pump continue to rise, Oregon voters easily rejected a sweeping transportation tax package that state leaders warned was necessary to avoid deep cuts to road maintenance, transit funding and infrastructure projects statewide.

Early election results released at 8 p.m., Tuesday, show Measure 120 failing by a more than 5-to-1 margin, with more than 83% of the vote as of Wednesday morning.

If passed, Measure 120 would have temporarily increased Oregon’s 40 cents-per-gallon gas tax by 6 cents and doubled the state’s 0.1% payroll tax, which funds public transit. Car registration and title fees would have gone up dramatically to pay for road maintenance and upgrades.

About half of the money raised would have gone to the Oregon Department of Transportation, which has argued for years that it does not bring in enough revenue as more drivers switch to electric vehicles, which are not subject to the gas tax.

Last month, ODOT decided not to fill more than 100 current job openings and programs to cut costs.

Without the funding package, state transportation officials warn Oregon could face layoffs, delayed highway maintenance, cuts to transit service and postponed infrastructure projects statewide.

A long road to the ballot box

First proposed by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, the tax hikes were approved during a special session last fall as a temporary band-aid, after lawmakers failed to pass a transportation budget in 2025.

The measure was seen as a necessary evil to keep ODOT afloat without bone-deep budget cuts while lawmakers searched for a permanent solution.

But opponents, including Republican lawmaker Ed Diehl, pushed for the controversial tax hike to go before voters, collecting more than 250,000 signatures to move the referendum onto the ballot.

Since then, politicians — including Kotek who lobbied heavily for the tax hike in the legislature — have largely backed away from the plan, with little organized campaigning to persuade voters.

Opponents of the plan say the tax hikes came at a terrible time for Oregonians, who are already struggling with cost of living increases and skyrocketing gas prices.

Democrats were able to move the measure from the November general election ballot, where it was originally slated, to May. Critics said that move was purely political, so Kotek and other statewide-elected candidates wouldn’t appear on the ballot at the same time as the controversial measure.

This is a developing story and will be updated as additional results are posted.

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