THE Oklahoma economy and state revenues are being driven by the energy sector, but an unexpected passenger is riding shotgun.
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It's the personal income tax, which was supposed to be in the back seat — if not the trunk — due to a series of cuts made since 2003. Critics of the cuts said they would run state revenues off the road.
State revenues rose by about 11 percent in July over the comparable month of 2007. The driver was unquestionably gross production taxes, with a jump of 59 percent. Sales taxes also rose. Motor vehicle taxes and a slew of other "lesser” revenue sources dropped slightly.
For the fiscal year, personal income taxes were up by $3.3 million. That came as little surprise to those who've been paying attention because the conventional way to measure collections is to see what's available for appropriation from the general fund. Yet personal income tax collections are subject to priority allocation into various special funds.
Oklahoma isn't flush with cash as it was before the tax cuts. A rise of $3.3 million is pocket change in a $7 billion budget. An increase of 0.1 percent is obviously less than the rise in inflation.
Still, in approving tax cuts, lawmakers and Gov. Brad Henry agreed that citizens were being overcharged. They gradually reduced the top income tax rate from 6.65 percent to 5.5 percent and increased the standard deduction. This is a major factor in the standstill growth in the state budget: The car is moving but it's not going very fast.
Tax consumers complain that the state is running on empty. From their perspective, that's a reasonable conclusion. Yet Oklahoma Tax Commission figures show personal income tax growth despite the cuts. And the people got tax relief when they needed it the most — as the cost of fueling their cars was rising dramatically.
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Fire ALL the DHS employees and start over. That should balance the budget quickly. There has never been such a fat overfunded department in the history of man! And all they do is complain for more. That is the way government employees like it.... Remember the joke about How much did you make? and send it in! Would that fix the DHS funding problem if the state had a 20% income tax. No look at California and a dozen other states! They just think up new things to spend money on. Rome is not burning, the state government is learning to live on a budget. Hurts! We in the private sector fight that battle every day, we live on a budget why can't you? Only an 11% increase in revenue, so sad.... Why don't you go to the private sector? I don't get to stack my sick days until I have years of sick pay. I don't get my paid during my vacations, because I am self employed! And nobody pays for my personal health insurance for me. I have to pay more than you state folks to get insurance. Do us both a favor and quit and get a real job..... Whiner!
Kirby--I'm sure the public sector will be happy to keep its hands out of your pockets as soon as you start building your own roads, hiring your own police force, developing your own new science and technology, hiring your own military, etc. etc. etc. etc. No man is an island, regardless of how much you think "I got everything thats mine all by myself, so I owe nothing to nobody....."
HOw about I keep my money and you keep your hands out of my pocket. I think thats fair. If you need more maybe you should work more. NO taxes like TExas sounds better, why cant this loser government handle that?
Percy, Oh yes a federal judge can tell you EXACTLY how much money to raise and EXACTLY how much money to spend. You bet they can. In Tennessee, a federal judge ordered the state legislature to raise taxes and spend more money on education. The Tennessee legistlature refused and the federal judge ordered and implemented a massive increase in property taxes. Sometime in our not so distant past, a federal court judge took over the management of the prisons in Oklahoma. He mandated massive spending increases in our prison sentence. Our legislature, giving in to the inevitable, rasied taxes and improved our prison sentences. There are attorneys out there drooling over the idea of suing the state in federal court over our prisons, bridges, and CW department. The current lawsuit may get you the reorginazation of DHS that you are wanting, but your taxes almost certainly will go up to take care of the problems identified. Like I said, Rome is burning. All you good-old-boy conservatives out there just keep burying your head in the sand, saying money won't fix anything, complaining that the government has wasted your money, and acting like nothing would really be wrong if you just had another Ronald Regan. I'm sure the federal judge will be very sympathetic.
Oklahoma has always been a low tax state and has always had its share of corruption.No one has ever proven all the "diversions" put together would have made a dent in our infrastructure needs.The diversions are a very small percentage of the whole budget. The tax hog talk is just parroting the Gaylord rhetoric.It is interesting the Gaylords were trumpeting tax dollars going to their family basketball team however.The tax cuts were unstatesman like considering the needs and what it would do for future revenues if we fixed up the place !
James if infrastructure is crumbling it is because the good old boys have been diverting money for decades . Do you thing the bridges got this way overnight? It wasn't tax cuts it was tax hogs using up all the money for their own interests. All these problems you spout about existed back when our tax rate was 7% but it didn't matter. If you think its about money you know very little if anything about Oklahoma government's efficiency.
Yep, those tax CONSUMERS are complaining again. Rome ain't burning, people. "State revenues rose by about 11 percent in July over the comparable month of 2007." The Feds have yet to build a prison, a bridge or a DHS. Feds can only mandate increased revenues. We already have increased revenues. We just need to be sure the tax CONSUMERS use it wisely.
Nero is fiddling while Rome is burning. State agencies and infrastructure are in crisis mode. Our prisons are a heart-beat away from beging taken over (again) by a federal judge who can and will mandate tax increases to pay for upgrading the state prisons and hiring more employees. We are one bridge collapse away from a federal class-action lawsuit and more federal mandates. This newspaper and the public are screaming for an investigation and audit of DHS (and yes, I work for DHS) that would almost certainly find that at least half of the problem us underfunding and might result in the many of the DHS programs being taken over by a federal judge. And yet, the Oklahoman is touting the economic results of the tax cuts. This is going to be like the old Fram commercial, "Pay me now, or pay me later". I can promise you that if the state programs get taken over by federal judges, like in Tennessee a few years ago, they will have no problems at all in raising all of our taxes and we will have no say in it what so ever. So, why don't we stop complaining about the problem and start solving it. If we don't, Uncle Sam will.
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.