OCPA president on Edmondson and Boren's call for higher taxes

OCPA president responds to Edmondson, Boren press conference

After former officials David Boren and Drew Edmondson held a press conference on education, Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), released the following the statement:

“The problems facing Oklahoma do not stem from a lack of revenue. Since 2015, the Legislature has raised about $1.1 billion in annual tax increases and other revenue.

“Oklahoma now has more money for public schools than ever before, well over $12,000 per student across the state. Based on the most current national teacher salary data, Oklahoma teachers would be the 13th highest paid in the country after their raise when considering cost of living. State Question 801, on the ballot this fall, would open up even more education revenues for teacher pay and help hold administrators accountable.

“Real education leadership means focusing on results for students, not just dollars for adults and the unsatisfiable demands of unions.”

Small: Misleading statements by Osborn, Boren are harmful

Free Market Friday: Misleading statements harmful

Former House Appropriations and Budget Chair Leslie Osborn recently stated Oklahoma is “50th in the nation in tax collections.” Calling for more tuition and fee increases on working Oklahoma families, University of Oklahoma President David Boren made a similar dead-last claim regarding state support for higher education.

Despite Boren’s claims, the actual data show that Oklahoma ranks 31st in total state support for higher education. When adjusted for cost of living, on a per capita basis Oklahoma actually ranks 26th in state support for higher education.

Just as the actual data contradict President Boren’s claim, the undisputed data from the United States Census Bureau contradict Rep. Osborn’s statements, proving that we are far from being the lowest-taxed state.

Regarding Osborn’s assertion, the actual data show Oklahoma is not 50th in the nation. According to the latest available data from the Census Bureau, Oklahoma collects more in state taxes than Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Thus, Oklahoma ranks 31st, not 50th. Per capita, Oklahoma ranks 38th in tax collections. When adjusted for cost of living, Oklahoma ranks 36th in per capita tax collections.

What’s really astonishing is that the state managed to collect this level of revenue despite being in a recession while most states were not. Oklahoma lost 21,800 energy and manufacturing jobs, resulting in a loss of more than $13 billion in taxable income. Oklahomans reduced purchases subject to sales tax and use tax to the tune of $4.1 billion just to survive, according to available Oklahoma Tax Commission data. Given this, state government should not complain, and Oklahomans should be thanked for their sacrifice.

Throughout the 2017 legislative session, tax consumers tried to get lawmakers and the public to support more than $2 billion in tax increases. Despite these attempts, no tax increases were constitutionally passed by the Legislature.

It’s understandable why tax consumers are working so hard to get taxpayers to believe the 50th and dead-last mantra: They want Oklahomans to be in the psychological condition to support and accept massive tax increases.

While I believe Rep. Osborn cares about Oklahoma, misleading statements from public officials such as Osborn and Boren are harmful to efforts to find viable, long-term solutions.

Jonathan Small serves as president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (www.ocpathink.org). This column originally ran in the Journal Record.

OCPA Impact comments on failure of SQ779

Statement from Dave Bond, CEO of OCPA Impact, Inc., on the voting results on SQ 779 and the continuing need for a teacher pay raise in Oklahoma:

"Today's results on 779 are only a partial victory. Yes, working Oklahoma families have been successfully shielded from being forced to pay the highest sales tax burden in the nation, and we're very pleased with that outcome.

"But the results are only a partial victory because the need for a pay raise for public school classroom teachers across Oklahoma is still very, very real.

"We spent the entire past legislative session at the Oklahoma Capitol advocating for a teacher pay raise without a tax increase on working Oklahomans, and we will push for the same objective at the Capitol this coming session.

"We look forward to working with President Boren, and with others across Oklahoma who have served as strong voices for increasing teacher salaries, toward realizing this common goal without increasing taxes at a time when our state and our economy can least afford it."

Don’t be fooled: SQ 779 much more than “only a penny”

Continuing with the spotlight on the state questions on the ballot, here is OCPA Impact's Dave Bond with a column exclusively for MuskogeePolitico on SQ779:

Don’t be fooled: SQ 779 much more than “only a penny”

by Dave Bond

Public school teachers in Oklahoma urgently need a pay raise. But there’s zero need for State Question 779, which would raise Oklahoma’s sales tax burden to the highest in the nation.

Teachers are leaving Oklahoma classrooms. Children are disadvantaged. Parents are worried.

But let’s be clear: On November 8, with SQ 779, Oklahomans aren’t voting on whether public school teachers need a raise.

With SQ 779, we’re voting on whether working Oklahoma families should be forced to pay the nation’s highest sales tax burden in order to fund teacher pay raises and more new spending.

Please don’t be fooled: SQ 779 is much, much more than “only a penny.”

In fact, according to its supporters, SQ 779 would increases taxes by a total of $615 million. That’s an average tax increase of over $420 per household statewide each year.

When added to existing state, county and municipal sales taxes, SQ 779 would raise Oklahoma’s average combined state-and-local sales tax burden to 9.8%, the highest permanent rate of any U.S. state. Oklahoma already has the sixth highest sales tax burden.

In many communities, SQ 779 would cause the sales tax burden to reach double digits.

The combined sales tax burden would hit 10% in Lawton, Ardmore, Guthrie, Chickasha and Weatherford, to name a few.

It would jump to 10.1% in Muskogee and Collinsville, 10.2% in Skiatook, 10.3% in Claremore, Grove and Ada, and 10.5% in Tahlequah, Sapulpa, Miami, Vinita, Catoosa and Chandler.

It would rise to 10.7% in Pryor, Okmulgee, Henryetta and Stilwell, 10.9% in Glenpool, and 11.5% in Checotah.

SQ 779 would be a tax increase on everyday purchases, including groceries, clothing, tools, home supplies and more, for low- and middle- income families.

Adding insult to injury, over 60% of the money from SQ 779’s tax increase would be spent on things besides pay raises for classroom teachers.

You read that correctly.

A $5,000 raise for every public school classroom teacher statewide costs $245 million. And remember, proponents of SQ 779 project the tax increase will raise $615 annually.

Where will the extra $370 million go? In lump sums to bureaucrats in Higher Education, Career Tech, school districts and the State Department of Education, with little direction on how to spend it.

TV commercials say money from SQ 779 will be used to make college more affordable. But there is nothing – nothing – in SQ 779’s fine print requiring this.

Finally, it’s completely unnecessary to raise taxes to increase teacher pay.

Since last fall, our organization has offered an alternative plan to fund teacher pay raises of $5,000 or better without raising taxes or restricting core government services.

At www.StopHigherTaxesOK.com, we offer a menu of $753 million in inefficient or nonessential state government spending that could be redirected to teacher salaries.

Oklahoma needs a teacher pay raise, not a tax increase. SQ 779 is a major tax increase that will unnecessarily burden working Oklahoma families of all incomes.

Bond is CEO of OCPA Impact, a nonpartisan, statewide advocacy group based in Oklahoma City.

"Tax Bill 779": Group airs ad against SQ779

Oklahoma Deserves Better, a new group formed to oppose SQ779, has a television ad out on the proposed sales tax hike:



According to filings with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, the chairman of the group is Enid Mayor Bill Shewey, a vocal opponent of SQ779. It appears that numerous Oklahoma mayors are part of the coalition, including outgoing Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett.

You can learn more about their efforts and arguments against SQ779 at OklahomaDeservesBetter.com.

OCPA Impact airs ad against proposed Medicaid expansion and tax hikes

Amid talk that the Republican-led Oklahoma legislature may approve major tax increases and a Medicaid expansion, OCPA Impact is out with a television ad against the proposals. Watch below:

From the McCarville Report:

Jonathan Small, president of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, explained the commercial to The McCarville Report: “Unfortunately we had to resort to that because as we speak, behind the scenes legislative leadership is trying to force the Republican caucuses to vote for about $1 billion in tax increases or structurally damaging one-time schemes….we are making sure to stay in touch with the non-leadership members of the House and non-leadership members of the Senate. There is growing sentiment, rightly so by non-term limited Republicans, that they are being set up again for having to support a really bad budget.”

Ad transcript:

Politicians in the state capitol have a spending problem. [images of David Boren, House Minority Leader Scott Inman, and Governor Mary Fallin flash on screen]
Instead of balancing the budget, they want to expand ObamaCare and increase government spending by billions.
Who's going to pay for it? You are. You, and working families across Oklahoma.
Call your state legislator today and tell them 'Enough is enough'.
No new taxes.

OK Supreme Court Justice Marian Opala has died

Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Marian P. Opala has passed away, according to court officials. He was 89 years old.

Opala, who has been on the Supreme Court since 1978, was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1921. When war broke out between Nazi Germany and Poland in 1939, he enlisted in the Polish Army. After the defeat of Poland, he joined the Polish Underground. He left Poland for a few years, with orders to connect with Polish troops serving in the British armed forces in the Mediterranean and Africa. He served with them briefly in Italy, before parachuting back into Poland to rejoin the Underground.

Opala was captured by the Nazis in the brutal put-down of the Polish Warsaw Uprising of 1944, and was imprisoned in Flossenbürg concentration camp (where theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed). When the U.S. Army liberated the camp, he became friends with a captain in the 45th Infantry Division from Oklahoma City. Opala emigrated to Oklahoma in part due to this friendship. He became a U.S. citizen, attended law school, and entered the judicial system. Gov. David Boren appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1978, and he had been retained as judge ever since then.