OKPOLICY.ORG
Stop the Income Tax Cut: Support SB 1073 (Feb. 13, 2016)
On Tuesday February 16th, Oklahoma lawmakers get their first – and possibly only – chance to stop the recent ill-advised income tax cut that is adding to the state’s massive budget shortfall and threatening critical public services.
SB 1073, authored by Sen. Mike Mazzei, is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Finance Committee at 10:30 am. The bill stops the most recent drop in the top income top rate by stating that the tax cut cannot take effect in a year when the state faces a revenue failure. It also makes the next scheduled reduction in the top income tax rate subject to a revenue growth trigger and does away with the “double deduction” for state income taxes, one of the tax code’s most needless and expensive tax breaks.
Please contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and urge them to Vote Yes to SB 1073. The Committee members are:
Senator Mike Mazzei – Chair (R-Tulsa) 405-521-5675 mazzei@oksenate.gov
Senator Marty Quinn – Vice Chair (R-Claremore) 405-521-5555 quinn@oksenate.gov
Senator Nathan Dahm – (R-Broken Arrow) 405-521-5551 dahm@oksenate.gov
Senator Kim David (R-Porter) 405-521-5590 david@oksenate.gov
Senator John Ford (R-Bartlesville) 405-521-5634 fordj@oksenate.gov
Senator Jim Halligan (R-Stillwater) 405-521-5572 halligan@oksenate.gov
Senator Darcy Jech (R-Kingfisher) 405-521-5545 jech@oksenate.gov
Senator Clark Jolley (R- Edmond) 405-521-5622 jolley@oksenate.gov
Senator Susan Paddack (D – Ada) 405-521-5541 paddack@oksenate.gov
Senator Frank Simpson (R-Springer) 405-521-5607 simpson@oksenate.gov
Senator John Sparks (D-Norman) 405-521-5553 sparks@oksenate.gov
Senator Charles Wyrick (D-Fairland) 405-521-5561 wyrick@oksenate.gov
Senator Ervin Yen (R-Oklahoma City) 405-521-5543 yen@oksenate.gov
Talking Points
- This tax cut was never intended to take effect in the midst of falling revenues and a massive shortfall. SB 1073 would restore the Legislature’s intent not to allow the tax cut to take effect in a downturn. The tax cut legislation that passed in 2014 included a trigger mechanism intended to allow the tax cut to take effect only if revenues were growing, but due to flaws in how the bill was written, the tax cut kicked in even as revenues plummeted and we’ve ended up in a revenue failure.
- The tax cut is contributing to our current budget crisis. The tax cut accounts for some $150 million less revenue in FY 2017, when we are looking at a shortfall of well over $1 billion.
- If we don’t stop the tax cut, we will have to adopt more painful options to balance the budget. By allowing the tax cut to move forward, the legislature will need either to cut even more deeply into the budgets for education, health care, social services, public safety and the arts, or raise other taxes and fees.
- The tax cut provides little or no benefit to most Oklahomans. The median household will receive $29 in 2016 from the tax cut and over 80 percent will get less than $100. Nearly two in five households will get nothing at all, because they are too poor to have any income fall in the top income tax bracket.
- The tax cut won’t benefit the economy. Economic experts are agreed that a quarter-point drop in the income tax rate won’t lead to any new jobs or increased investment. But continued cuts to education, training, health care and infrastructure will make us less economically competitive.
PLEASE CONTACT SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS BEFORE 10:30 AM TUESDAY AND URGE THEM TO VOTE YES ON SB 1073
Additional Resources
News Article: Sen Finance Chairman appeals for help to stop income tax cut
OK Policy Tax and Budget Information
Balanced Solutions to Oklahoma’s Budget Emergency
Tax cuts now reducing state revenue by over $1 billion a year
What you can do with your tax cut
Until the state proves it can live within its means, it should stop reducing them (Ken Miller)
