OKLAHOMA CITY — While University of Oklahoma President David Boren is calling for a moratorium on further state tax cuts, the chairman of the House’s Revenue and Taxation Committee believes Boren’s request is premature.
State Rep. Randy Terrill said Thursday he still believes the state’s income tax is still too high, but wants to gather information from a series of interim studies scheduled later this fall, before deciding “whether or not additional tax relief is needed or necessary.”
“Boren’s call was premature,” Terrill, R-Moore, said. “We haven’t begun our interim studies yet. We want to look at whether or not additional tax relief is needed or necessary and, if so, what type of tax relief is preferable.”
Terrill said Oklahoma must balance tax cuts against the “right set of priorities” and targeted spending increases.
“It’s about respect for taxpayers, too,” he said.
In an interview last week with the Associated Press, Boren urged lawmakers to sideline future tax reduction proposals and, instead, invest in higher education to create a knowledge-based economy which he believes will produce long-term benefits in new businesses and good jobs.
“I think we ought to have a moratorium on tax reductions right now,” Boren said last week. “I think we’re bumping the limits and I think we certainly don’t need to proceed down that path.”
Boren said that when he served as governor 30 years ago, more than 40 percent of OU’s budget came from appropriations by the Legislature, with the balance coming from tuition and fees, grants and contracts, private donations and other sources.
This year, the AP reported, state tax dollars will provide only 21.5 percent of the $713 million operating budget for the OU campus in Norman and just 7 or 8 percent of the $632 million budget for the OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.
And as public funding for OU declined, tuition and fees paid by students have increased.
“It’s almost a dollar for dollar trade-off,” Boren said.
Yet Terrill — an OU alumnus, himself — says certain tax cuts will “have the effect of generating more revenue for the treasury.”
“The higher business taxes are, the more they are a deterrent to growth and job creation,” he said. “We want to invest in higher education, but we want a business-friendly climate here as well.”
Additionally, he said, the state should establish clear lines of accountability, so taxpayers can see exactly where their money is going and how those funds are spent.
“The clearer the lines of accountability are, the more voters can see if their tax dollars have been spent well and whether or not there is a need for more revenue,” he said. “But when the pot gets blended and mixed, the voters get skeptical.”
And while Boren said an investment of state tax dollars in colleges and universities — and other research institutions — will produce economic results, Terrill said recent tax cuts have not caused a reduction in government services.
“We paid for the tax cuts purely out of surplus,” he said. “There has not been one reduction in state government.”
Boren countered, saying that some temporary tax cuts “won’t amount to much.”
“It’s very tempting to give in to the siren song of tax cuts. I realize that,” he said. “I always want to keep taxes as low as they can possibly be. If we really want to put more money in the pockets of Oklahoma citizens so they can spend it the way they want to, ironically, I think investment is the best way to do that right now than some temporary tax cuts that won’t amount to much. Most people won’t even notice.”
Terrill, however, said he would prefer those cuts to go directly to taxpayers.
“Again, it’s about respect,” he said. “I believe when we had the type of economy we have and when we have record surpluses, we should return some of that surplus back to the public.”
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Friday, September 21, 2007
Lawmakers propose new tax cut
OKLAHOMA CITY — Just days after OU president David Boren called for a moratorium on further cuts and more investment in higher education, two state lawmakers announced they’ve filed legislation to exempt most overtime pay from state income tax.
But at least one area lawmaker said he has concerns about the idea.
State Senator Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, and Rep. Bud Smithson, D-Salisaw, held a Capitol press conference Monday to say they’d filed a measure “to help ensure Oklahoma workers would keep more of their hard earned dollars.”
The proposal — Senate Bill 1132 — would exempt most overtime pay from state income taxes required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
“We’re talking about a tax break that will make a meaningful difference to the many Oklahomans and their families who work hard, but still live paycheck to paycheck,” said Corn, D-Poteau. “If they keep more of their overtime pay, it’s money that’s going to go straight back into the local economy for food, groceries, clothing and other necessities. It’s a win-win proposal.”
Corn said the exemption would apply to most employees who are paid by the hour but not apply to employees who are exempt from the FLSA overtime mandates — that is, executives, professionals or administrative employees.
However, Norman Democrat Wallace Collins said he’d like to know what the impact would be on the state or if both lawmakers were “simply cutting taxes.”
“While I think that we’ve cut taxes about all we’ve needed to cut them, a tax exemption (like the overtime proposal) would benefit working people,” Collins said.
People who are paid overtime, he said, “are certainly not CEOs and managers and people like that. And a bottom-up tax break could be beneficial.”
Collins said he preferred tax cuts that came “from the bottom up.”
“I do support the idea of trying to help working people,” he said. “But I’d kinda like to see tax cuts come from the bottom up and not the top down.”
The proposal comes on the heels of a call by Boren to put a moratorium on further tax cuts and “more investment in higher education.”
“I think we ought to have a moratorium on tax reductions right now,” Boren said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think we’re bumping the limits and I think we certainly don’t need to proceed down that path.”
Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, authored legislation to abolish the inheritance tax between spouses at the federal and state levels.
The state’s recent tax cuts, he said, will reduce state revenue by more than $600 million a year, about “as far as the state should go.”
“We’ve pushed the tax cut envelope about as far as possible and I think what people in Oklahoma really want is excellence,” Boren said. “It’s very tempting to give in to the Siren song of tax cuts. I realize that,” he said.
The lawmakers said they had also filed a companion measure, Senate Concurrent Resolution 43, calling on Congress to enact similar legislation at the federal level. Both measures will be considered when the 2008 legislative session convenes in February.
But while Boren and Collins were cool to the idea, Republican leaders in the Oklahoma Senate said they are willing to consider the proposal.
“The idea of exempting overtime pay from income taxes is being promoted nationally by prominent Republicans like former Speaker Newt Gingrich, and it is an idea Senate Republicans are willing to consider here in Oklahoma,” Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee said in a media release.
“Oklahoma’s income tax rate is too high, so we are continually looking for ways to reduce the tax burden on Oklahoma families,” he said.
But at least one area lawmaker said he has concerns about the idea.
State Senator Kenneth Corn, D-Poteau, and Rep. Bud Smithson, D-Salisaw, held a Capitol press conference Monday to say they’d filed a measure “to help ensure Oklahoma workers would keep more of their hard earned dollars.”
The proposal — Senate Bill 1132 — would exempt most overtime pay from state income taxes required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
“We’re talking about a tax break that will make a meaningful difference to the many Oklahomans and their families who work hard, but still live paycheck to paycheck,” said Corn, D-Poteau. “If they keep more of their overtime pay, it’s money that’s going to go straight back into the local economy for food, groceries, clothing and other necessities. It’s a win-win proposal.”
Corn said the exemption would apply to most employees who are paid by the hour but not apply to employees who are exempt from the FLSA overtime mandates — that is, executives, professionals or administrative employees.
However, Norman Democrat Wallace Collins said he’d like to know what the impact would be on the state or if both lawmakers were “simply cutting taxes.”
“While I think that we’ve cut taxes about all we’ve needed to cut them, a tax exemption (like the overtime proposal) would benefit working people,” Collins said.
People who are paid overtime, he said, “are certainly not CEOs and managers and people like that. And a bottom-up tax break could be beneficial.”
Collins said he preferred tax cuts that came “from the bottom up.”
“I do support the idea of trying to help working people,” he said. “But I’d kinda like to see tax cuts come from the bottom up and not the top down.”
The proposal comes on the heels of a call by Boren to put a moratorium on further tax cuts and “more investment in higher education.”
“I think we ought to have a moratorium on tax reductions right now,” Boren said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think we’re bumping the limits and I think we certainly don’t need to proceed down that path.”
Boren, a former Democratic governor and U.S. senator, authored legislation to abolish the inheritance tax between spouses at the federal and state levels.
The state’s recent tax cuts, he said, will reduce state revenue by more than $600 million a year, about “as far as the state should go.”
“We’ve pushed the tax cut envelope about as far as possible and I think what people in Oklahoma really want is excellence,” Boren said. “It’s very tempting to give in to the Siren song of tax cuts. I realize that,” he said.
The lawmakers said they had also filed a companion measure, Senate Concurrent Resolution 43, calling on Congress to enact similar legislation at the federal level. Both measures will be considered when the 2008 legislative session convenes in February.
But while Boren and Collins were cool to the idea, Republican leaders in the Oklahoma Senate said they are willing to consider the proposal.
“The idea of exempting overtime pay from income taxes is being promoted nationally by prominent Republicans like former Speaker Newt Gingrich, and it is an idea Senate Republicans are willing to consider here in Oklahoma,” Senate Co-President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee said in a media release.
“Oklahoma’s income tax rate is too high, so we are continually looking for ways to reduce the tax burden on Oklahoma families,” he said.
Wesselhoft proposes new legislation "to better protect" state's pregnant women
OKLAHOMA CITY — Saying he wants to “better protect women and unborn babies” state Representative Paul Wesselhoft said he’ll introduce legislation next year to strengthen the penalties for assaults on pregnant women.
Wesselhoft, a Moore Republican, said he would file the bill for the 2008 legislative session. That measure would make it a felony to assault a pregnant woman with the intent of causing a miscarriage, and would set a minimum sentencing requirement of five years in prison for a first conviction. A subsequent, second conviction would carry a minimum 10-year sentence.
Should a woman suffer a miscarriage within 48 hours of the assault, her assailant would face a minimum of 20 years in prison, he said.
Wesselhoft said he wrote the measure after learning how many pregnant women are assaulted each year in Oklahoma.
“We have over 3,000 pregnant women who are physically attacked in this state,” he said. “I think it’s an outrage that any man would attack a pregnant woman.”
Statistics from the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Oklahoma State Department of Health show that in 2005 about 6 percent of the nation’s pregnant women were assaulted. For Oklahoma, that figure is 3,158.
“Oklahomans must protect unborn children and the mothers who carry these vulnerable babies,” Wesselhoft said in a media release about the bill. “It takes a degenerate to try to kill an innocent baby, no matter what stage in life. I hope this bill literally scares the hell out of that reprobate who would physically abuse a pregnant woman.”
While Wesselhoft acknolwedges he hasn’t found a Senate co-author for the proposal, he believes the bill will be popular with the House of Representatives’ Republican leadership.
“I feel very optimistic,” he said. “Most likely our leadership will choose a couple of bills as part of their agenda, and I believe this will be one. I believe we’re definitely going to pass it in the House.”
Wesselhoft could get help from an unlikely ally.
Officials with the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault said they did research for Wesselhoft’s measure, and added they would be receptive to the proposal — provided it didn’t contain “other language which could cause problems for women.”
“I haven’t actually seen the bill yet,” said Marcia Smith, the OCADVSA’s executive director. “But we are supportive of the idea. We hope that it’s in a form that we can support. We hope they don’t put anything else in there that will harm women.”
Smith said the group supports any legislation which holds abusers more accountable.
“We’re going to take a very close look it, anything that holds an abuser more accountable for their crimes is something that we can support.”
Many times, she said, women in abusive relationships are encouraged to terminate their pregnancy, or not seek medical help or child support. “That’s why we’re open-minded to this idea. Often, physical violence to a pregnant woman will result in brain damage or chemical imbalances to the fetus.”
Abused women, Smith said, are impacted by violence which in turn impacts their unborn baby.
Wesselhoft said he welcomed input from the group.
“I’m going to call them when the bill is heard in committee,” he said. “I do want their input, they are a critical component.”
Wesselhoft’s bill comes on the heels of a handfull of other measures — known as fetal homicide laws — which recently were passed by state lawmakers.
Those bills include:
• A bill passed in 2006 which defines an unborn child as a human being, but does not include legal abortion or instances of death during medical, therapeutic or diagnostic testing.
• A revision of the state’s civil wrongful death statutes — passed in 2005 — which revises the law governing the intentional shooting with intent to kill another, and assault and battery by adding an unborn child and includes a penalty anyone who willfully kills an unborn child.
Wesselhoft said lawmakers will get their first chance to review his bill next February at the beginning of the legislative session. “We must not allow over 3,000 pregnant women a year, and their unborn babies, to be physically abused or murdered,” he said.
Wesselhoft, a Moore Republican, said he would file the bill for the 2008 legislative session. That measure would make it a felony to assault a pregnant woman with the intent of causing a miscarriage, and would set a minimum sentencing requirement of five years in prison for a first conviction. A subsequent, second conviction would carry a minimum 10-year sentence.
Should a woman suffer a miscarriage within 48 hours of the assault, her assailant would face a minimum of 20 years in prison, he said.
Wesselhoft said he wrote the measure after learning how many pregnant women are assaulted each year in Oklahoma.
“We have over 3,000 pregnant women who are physically attacked in this state,” he said. “I think it’s an outrage that any man would attack a pregnant woman.”
Statistics from the Journal of the American Medical Association and the Oklahoma State Department of Health show that in 2005 about 6 percent of the nation’s pregnant women were assaulted. For Oklahoma, that figure is 3,158.
“Oklahomans must protect unborn children and the mothers who carry these vulnerable babies,” Wesselhoft said in a media release about the bill. “It takes a degenerate to try to kill an innocent baby, no matter what stage in life. I hope this bill literally scares the hell out of that reprobate who would physically abuse a pregnant woman.”
While Wesselhoft acknolwedges he hasn’t found a Senate co-author for the proposal, he believes the bill will be popular with the House of Representatives’ Republican leadership.
“I feel very optimistic,” he said. “Most likely our leadership will choose a couple of bills as part of their agenda, and I believe this will be one. I believe we’re definitely going to pass it in the House.”
Wesselhoft could get help from an unlikely ally.
Officials with the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault said they did research for Wesselhoft’s measure, and added they would be receptive to the proposal — provided it didn’t contain “other language which could cause problems for women.”
“I haven’t actually seen the bill yet,” said Marcia Smith, the OCADVSA’s executive director. “But we are supportive of the idea. We hope that it’s in a form that we can support. We hope they don’t put anything else in there that will harm women.”
Smith said the group supports any legislation which holds abusers more accountable.
“We’re going to take a very close look it, anything that holds an abuser more accountable for their crimes is something that we can support.”
Many times, she said, women in abusive relationships are encouraged to terminate their pregnancy, or not seek medical help or child support. “That’s why we’re open-minded to this idea. Often, physical violence to a pregnant woman will result in brain damage or chemical imbalances to the fetus.”
Abused women, Smith said, are impacted by violence which in turn impacts their unborn baby.
Wesselhoft said he welcomed input from the group.
“I’m going to call them when the bill is heard in committee,” he said. “I do want their input, they are a critical component.”
Wesselhoft’s bill comes on the heels of a handfull of other measures — known as fetal homicide laws — which recently were passed by state lawmakers.
Those bills include:
• A bill passed in 2006 which defines an unborn child as a human being, but does not include legal abortion or instances of death during medical, therapeutic or diagnostic testing.
• A revision of the state’s civil wrongful death statutes — passed in 2005 — which revises the law governing the intentional shooting with intent to kill another, and assault and battery by adding an unborn child and includes a penalty anyone who willfully kills an unborn child.
Wesselhoft said lawmakers will get their first chance to review his bill next February at the beginning of the legislative session. “We must not allow over 3,000 pregnant women a year, and their unborn babies, to be physically abused or murdered,” he said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
