OKPOLICY.ORG
It is almost certain those running our state are making a serious mistake with the $340 million tax cut passed by the legislature last week. The best evidence of that is the debate made by the chairman of the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee, Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, on the floor of the State Senate against House Bill 2764, Gov. Kevin Stitt’s tax cut and “path to zero” plan.
Serving the first year of his third and final term, Sen. Rader is respected by legislators for his integrity, knowledge, and success, both in politics and in private life. His goal for the time he has left in the Senate is to try to straighten out Oklahoma’s complicated, inefficient, and in some cases unfair state tax system and to make progress on criminal justice reform. He doesn’t pick easy issues to tackle. He’s a conservative by nature and ideology who is part of the Senate leadership and normally a reliable vote.
Revenue and Tax Chairman Rader reminded newcomers of the 2018 vote to increase taxes that he said helped the state get its feet on the ground which was necessary after a decade of state budget cutting. He warned the bill would, in his opinion, likely set the stage for a tax increase vote in the future.
He reminded senators that Oklahoma is already a “top 10 state” for the lowest state and local tax obligations in the United States and cited numbers showing, in real dollars, that the legislature is appropriating less money for state government operations this year than it did 10 years ago. He said that translates into consequences such as fewer troopers on our highways than we had 20 years ago and the District Attorney’s offices partially funded by fines and fees rather than appropriations. The state has also reduced the number of state employees by thousands.
Looking to the future, he sees the need to repair unsafe roads, bridges, and highway intersections that take lives, $500 million in rural water infrastructure needs, teacher pay raises, teacher and state employee pension increases, and mental health costs, just to name a few. The state may also be looking at millions, if not billions, in added costs due to cuts in federal Medicaid programs, FEMA and other federal cuts.
Rader is not buying that Oklahoma’s taxes are keeping businesses from coming to the state, saying that no businesses in his area were asking for tax cuts. But what seems to rankle him most was a missed opportunity for real tax reform. He was asked three years ago to head a task force to make recommendations that would create a vision for reform. He called the actions of the legislature “whack-a-mole” with no vision and without helping those who need help the most, keeping in place breaks for those who know how to work the system.
Unfortunately, the best policy doesn’t always prevail. But Sen. Rader, Sen. Brent Howard, R-Altus, and Sen. Darcy Jech, R-Kingfisher, joined the eight Democrats to record their protest. Sen. Rader said he was voting “no” for his grandsons and at the same time hoping that he is wrong. I think there’s little doubt that he’s right. Oklahoma seems destined to continue as a poor state.
