The Oklahoma Legislature is Arguing About a Tax Break That Would Save Oklahomans $1.77 Per Week But Cost the State Hundreds of Millions
Yesterday’s center ring attraction at the Capitol was the ultra-public budget negotiation.
That was introduced last week by Gov. Kevin Stitt, ostensibly as an expeditious way to mediate the competing budget proposal from the House and Senate. Stitt proposed all sit down to work it out with Stitt as the mediator and invite the press to cover it.
Insiders, perhaps including Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, contemplated that it might be more of a ploy to grandstand in front of reporters and push the income tax cut the governor and House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, have ballyhooed — and Treat has rebuffed — all session.
Treat responded by agreeing to the meeting but making it even more public, adding the whole Legislature and the public to the guest list, and adding a live stream.
The income tax argument is simple. Stitt and McCall want a 0.25% state income tax reduction. Treat doesn’t, arguing that the elimination of the state sales tax on groceries will reduce revenue by $400 million per year. Oklahoma has the toughest standard in the nation for raising taxes, which may be why it’s happened only once in more than 30 years. If revenue is cut too much, there’s no easy way to reset the income stream. Treat holds that the grocery tax cut was enough and that any more would position the state for trouble down the road.
According to House Fiscal Staff analysis, an across-the-board 0.25% income tax cut would reduce state revenue by at least $235 million and as much as $293 million. That’s the equivalent of funding the Oklahoma Ethics Commission 343 times over.
The average Oklahoman would keep $1.77 per week.
A 12-ounce cup of plain coffee at Starbucks costs $2.65.
More worth reading:
Orphaned Well Cleanup Could Cost Oklahomans $7 Billion
Oklahoma allows companies to cover an unlimited number of wells with a single $25,000 bond. Alternatively, companies can satisfy bonding requirements by proving they are worth at least $50,000, in which case they often do not have to set aside any real money in bonds. Corporation Commission spokesperson Matt Skinner said the agency was unable to find a single case where the state recouped enough money to plug a well from companies that relied solely on the latter option. [ProPublica]
Bill Increasing Age of Consent Dies
An effort to raise Oklahoma’s age of sexual consent appears dead for the session after lawmakers tried to take it a step further by also banning most childhood marriages. [Oklahoma Voice]
Tribes Reversing Trend in Meat Processing
Over the past four years, the Osage, Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) nations have opened USDA-inspected processing plants in eastern Oklahoma, joining the Quapaw Nation, which opened its own facility seven years ago. The Choctaw Nation has invested in a recently opened facility in southern Oklahoma. [Investigate Midwest]
John Ingle, the actor who played Edward Quartermaine in 555 episodes of General Hospital, was born in Tulsa on this day in 1928. He died in 2012.
Ciao for now,
Ted Streuli
Executive Director, Oklahoma Watch
tstreuli@oklahomawatch
