OKPOLICY.ORG
Marcus McEntire is a freshman Republican legislator representing HD 50 (Duncan). A small business owner, he attended and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in communication studies, earned a Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and earned a Master of Arts in Sociology from the University of Virginia.
When I was elected to the House, I knew the job would be challenging and there would be many obstacles. But at the end of my first legislative session, I realized there is a certain well-intentioned constitutional provision in place that proves to be an extraordinary hurdle to effective legislating.
This hurdle is State Question 640, which voters approved in 1992. SQ 640 changed Oklahoma’s constitution to require either a majority vote of the people or a three-fourths majority vote in the Legislature to raise any tax.
Taxation is not a comfortable topic for a Republican legislator, but taxes are crucial to funding roads and bridges, education, public safety, prisons, and much more. I’m not fond of paying taxes both personally and for my business; however, I am very fond of having an adequately-funded, effective, and efficient state government that works for its people.
Since SQ 640 passed 25 years ago, the Legislature has not once cleared the three-quarter hurdle to pass a tax increase — even as the state has been hit by several rounds of revenue shortfalls and budget cuts that have reduced us to the bottom ranks in funding for our schools and other critically needed services. Voters have opted to raise taxes only once, in 2004, when Oklahomans approved a tobacco tax increase. The two other tax-raising ballot measures, even one that promised a teacher pay raise, were voted down.
The public continues to demand that legislators do their job, fix the problems, and represent their constituents. Oklahomans are sick and tired of gridlock and underwhelming governance. Yet SQ 640’s three-fourths requirement gives one-quarter of legislators effective veto power over efforts to come together in search of solutions. In other words, in the current House of Representatives, a minority can easily stop the majority from moving forward and representing the majority of constituents’ wishes. Rather than encourage compromise, the three-fourths hurdle fosters polarization, gridlock, and severely reduces the ability to govern in the way Oklahomans expect and deserve.
Only about one-third of states require a supermajority to raise taxes and Oklahoma’s 75 percent requirement is, along with Arkansas, the most stringent in the nation. Requiring 75 percent approval means noble bills — ones that are necessary for good government — die. To correct this and get us back on track as a state, we should look to common sense solutions to this problem. Here are some possible solutions.
- Repeal SQ 640. Tax increases would be passed with a simple majority. This option allows the Legislature to do its job, reach real compromise, and be able to react to crisis better.
- Amend SQ 640 to a lesser, but still high, vote threshold. This option lowers the three-fourths super-majority vote requirement to an ordinary two-thirds super-majority vote. Another option would be requiring a 60 percent super-majority (This is the standard for school bonds). Both vote margins are high standards offering taxpayer protection, decreasing the odds of gridlock, and giving the Legislature a better shot at doing its job.
- Amend SQ 640 to allow exceptions: The idea is that the parameters of SQ 640 stay in place, but during certified revenue failures the number of votes required to increase revenues drops to the two-thirds or a 60 percent vote threshold. This option is based on an objective measure of emergency and need. It allows the Legislature a better shot at doing its job in times of crisis.
SQ 640 is doing what it was designed to do; it makes tax increases unlikely. Its success is problematic, though; it’s a contributing factor to the Legislature’s gridlock and lack of statesmanship. It is time to make state government work efficiently for its citizens. It is time to remove barriers that block compromise and undermine representative government. It is time to do something different.
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Or we could elect Democrats that aren’t afraid to fund the government.
Revisit SQ 640 and add fees to supermajority as was the intent when 640 was passed. Where you can, boycott Oklahoma on taxed purchases such as food in Texas. Starve government until the peoples needs are addressed by the legislature (Republicans).
If you would ask the people to vote on a tax increase that was not built to fleece the poor and middle class we’d gladly pass it.
the answer is NO! SQ 640 all this is , is away to undermine the will of the people , you have our answer, as the bill lies in place . the problem with legislatures , is you love to back track instead of fixing the issues that you, your selves avoided, where I come from, its called passing the buck and we have seen enough of this here, while Trump brings taxes down , this legislator has a big problem of trying to increase , because you neglected to do your jobs ! this state seems to live off the backs of the feds while our money is diverted else where . its not the people problem its yours !
The suggested “option 3” is particularly offensive to me, as part of the working class, because it is the legislature that creates the revenue failures. The cause of our current revenue crisis is tax cuts to the oil and gas industry and the wealthy that have created historic revenue shortfalls. Option 3 would make it easier for legislators to shift those taxes to the already overly burdened working class as they have done already (e.g., collecting sales tax for online purchases and automobiles) and have demonstrated that they intend to do in the future (e.g., cigarette tax).
Yes, we are angry about the current revenue failure, and as a result services are being cut, schools now have four day weeks, we have no money for healthcare, and our roads and bridges are crumbling. We want the legislature to “do their job.” However, we don’t want them to do it on the backs of working people.
Thank you for writing this article. It was clear and well-reasoned. I hope that you will be able to make an impact on this issue.
Option 3 would make it easier for legislators to shift those taxes to the already overly burdened working class as they have done already (e.g., collecting sales tax for online purchases and automobiles), Recall that Oklahoma voters rejected a larger state sales tax—the majority of our legislators don’t respect that, preferring to protect the lowest in the USA gross production tax.
640 has strengthened a right minded minority a the right time.
Repealing 6490 just now make it easier for legislators to shift those taxes to the already overly burdened working class as they have done already (e.g., collecting sales tax for online purchases and automobiles), Recall that Oklahoma voters rejected a larger state sales tax—the majority of our legislators don’t respect that, preferring to protect the lowest in the USA gross production tax.
640 has strengthened a right minded minority a the right time.
Actually SQ 640 is shifting the burden of taxes to middle class & poor. The only way they can legally raise taxes without a 75 percent majority is by removing sales tax exemptions. That’s why car buyers now have to pay a sales tax on car and truck sales. It will only get worse in future. We may have to pay sales taxes on services such as hair cuts, car repair, doctors visits, etc. It would be much better to increase gross production taxes and income taxes on those making over $200,000 than adding more sales taxes that affect low income earners.
In my opinion it will take a change in the status quo to get Oklahoma on a positive track. And one lone legislator can’t make it happen by himself, but it’s good to know that this is still the land of the brave. Now how about the Leadership of both political parties showing some leadership? We the people means we, you and I and our neighbors together, acting together, for the good of us all. It may sound corny, but that’s our form of government.
I like it just the way it is . it stops all of you up their from imposing higher taxes , just because all of you decided to go on a spending spree without the money in place to do so . it is a protection for us the people. leave it alone .
The problem we face was caused by political tax cuts, not SQ 640. Rescind the tax cuts allowing taxes to return to what they were, then I will talk about revisiting SQ 640. Calling rescinding cuts raising taxes instead of restoring taxes is unfair.
640 was voted by the people and is law until it is voted down and I don’t think that will happen