More than $1 billion dollars in collected taxes is set to go back to taxpayers under Oregon’s “kicker” law. The law states that any tax payments over 2% of what state officials projected go back to personal and corporate taxpayers as rebates. This year's rebate is the largest since the law was passed in 1979.

Oregon’s governor, Ted Kulongoski (D), has suggested that the kicker law be suspended and the money saved for a recession or put into public schools. Democrats have applauded Kulongoski for taking a stand, but some are worried that challenging the popular rebate will hurt his chances of winning reelection next fall.

Kulongoski’s GOP challenger, Ron Saxton, has already seized on the issue, saying, "It's a clear choice between me and the governor. The voters have said [the money] goes back to them, and that is the law." But Saxton himself suggested saving some of the kicker money in 2003, leading Kulongoski’s campaign to label him a “hypocritical panderer" trying to placate the rightwing.

The kicker tax provision is the only one of its kind in the country.