In 1992, Oklahoma voters revolted against higher taxes and passed State Question 640, a constitutional amendment that attacked the ease with which tax increases had historically been passed. SQ640 required revenue-raising measures to either be passed by a majority vote of the people (50%+1) or a 75% vote in both houses of the Legislature, rather than a simple legislative majority as had been the practice.
Big government advocates and tax hogs have complained about it ever since.
Until the 2017-18 special sessions, no outright tax increase had achieved that 75% hurdle, although hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes had been raised through other means (votes of the people, fees, and other sleight-of-hand loopholes). To be fair, very few outright tax increases had been previously attempted. Nevertheless, the 75% hurdle did not prove to be "impossible" as tax fans had decried.
At the beginning of the 2018 legislative session, efforts began in earnest to actually reduce the revenue-raising threshold and gut SQ640's constitutional language. House leadership filed a measure (HJR1032) to drop the threshold to 3/5ths (60%), and then a new measure (HJR 1050) to change it to 2/3rds was brought to the floor.
All of this continued to ignore the fact that a statewide vote of the people only requires a bare majority of 50%+1 vote. Legislators continue to fear placing tax increase measures before the voters, counting instead on short memories to cover up their legislative voting records.
HJR 1050 made it to a vote. An amendment was submitted to reduce the tax-hike vote threshold from the proposed 2/3rds back down to 60% (like HJR 1032). That amendment failed, although a shameful 39 Republicans voted for it. The next vote saw 44 Republicans join 7 Democrats in passing the bill.
That brings us to this election. Three Republicans on the June primary ballot for statewide office and one running for Congress voted to gut SQ640 and make it easier for the Legislature to raise your taxes.
Former House Speaker Charles McCall, and former Rep. Jon Echols, current Rep. John Pfeiffer, and then-Sen. Kim David all voted to reduce the tax-raising requirement from 3/4ths to 2/3rds. Speaker McCall and Reps. Echols and Pfeiffer voted to move it even lower to 3/5ths.
Big government advocates and tax hogs have complained about it ever since.
During the last major state budget crisis (2016-2018), most legislative Republicans abandoned their conservative principles in the face of tough fiscal choices. Additionally, they increasingly started to talk about gutting SQ640 and lowering the standard for revenue-raising measures.
Until the 2017-18 special sessions, no outright tax increase had achieved that 75% hurdle, although hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes had been raised through other means (votes of the people, fees, and other sleight-of-hand loopholes). To be fair, very few outright tax increases had been previously attempted. Nevertheless, the 75% hurdle did not prove to be "impossible" as tax fans had decried.
At the beginning of the 2018 legislative session, efforts began in earnest to actually reduce the revenue-raising threshold and gut SQ640's constitutional language. House leadership filed a measure (HJR1032) to drop the threshold to 3/5ths (60%), and then a new measure (HJR 1050) to change it to 2/3rds was brought to the floor.
All of this continued to ignore the fact that a statewide vote of the people only requires a bare majority of 50%+1 vote. Legislators continue to fear placing tax increase measures before the voters, counting instead on short memories to cover up their legislative voting records.
HJR 1050 made it to a vote. An amendment was submitted to reduce the tax-hike vote threshold from the proposed 2/3rds back down to 60% (like HJR 1032). That amendment failed, although a shameful 39 Republicans voted for it. The next vote saw 44 Republicans join 7 Democrats in passing the bill.
That brings us to this election. Three Republicans on the June primary ballot for statewide office and one running for Congress voted to gut SQ640 and make it easier for the Legislature to raise your taxes.
Former House Speaker Charles McCall, and former Rep. Jon Echols, current Rep. John Pfeiffer, and then-Sen. Kim David all voted to reduce the tax-raising requirement from 3/4ths to 2/3rds. Speaker McCall and Reps. Echols and Pfeiffer voted to move it even lower to 3/5ths.
