Saturday, May 17, 2008
HOISTED ON THE HORNS
The failure of the Oklahoma state legislature to adequately fund government services has resulted in some bizarre happenings. We have a state staff person about to be sentenced to jail because he did not do what a judge ordered, even though he could not do it because of the failure of the legislature to provide money for facilities to do it.
Sound crazy? Absolutely! But this is the situation that our tax-cutting, program-starving legislature has put us into.
The Office of Juvenile Affairs has repeatedly requested funds for the expansion of holding and treatment facilities. The Oklahoma county juvenile detention center is crowded 10% beyond bed capacity, because the state has no room to move juvenile inmates into treatment oriented facilities.
An Oklahoma County judge ordered the director of juvenile justice to take them anyway -- NOW. The director has no place to put them either, and says it would be unfair to the rest of the state to use all coming vacancies to take Oklahoma City offenders in front of others. So, the county judge is holding him in contempt of a court order.
That poor public administrator is indeed hoisted on the horns of a dilemma.
Oklahoma voters are demonstrating short-sightedness, if not plain ignorance, in voting time after time for those legislators who promise tax cuts. Legislators should be in a position to know that they cannot run adequate state services without sufficient tax money. This makes most of them into whatever name category that is the opposite of honest statespersons.
Oklahoma has one of the lowest tax burdens in the country. Anyone who says different is not truthful.
Further, the only reason Oklahoma can even survive as a state with the current level of revenues generated by its individual and corporate taxpayers and highway users is because it has become flush with oil and gas severance (well-head) taxes. These have, of course, increased along with the prices of both oil and natural gas.
Our ordinary tax paying citizens and corporations have had an easy ride – compared to those in most other states. As usual, Oklahoma is living off its minerals during a boom, and it is doing nothing for its infrastructure with that volatile splash of income.
Our legislature has repeatedly cut taxes over the last few years. At the same time those same legislators have added billions to the state debt, to be paid from future revenue. Future funds will be inadequate because of failure to enact taxes specific to the debt, as the constitution requires, and tax-cutting will produce insufficient general funds to maintain services -- much less pay off past debt.
Oklahoma has the lowest total tax burden of any state in the country -- federal, state, and local. Ours is 27.8% compared with the national average of 32.7%. In STATE taxes, Oklahoma is 49th with sales 4.5%, gasoline 17 cents, beer 40 cents a gallon, and cigarettes $1.03.
Only seven states do not have income taxes, but one would not know that by listening to politicians and news media. Only five states, all different from the seven just mentioned, do not have state sales tax. That is the reality. We don’t have to eliminate or cut taxes to be competitive.
Oklahoma’s gasoline taxes are 18.4 cents federal and 17 cents state, for a total of 35.4 cents. This is more than 10 cents below the national average.
If an old rule of thumb still applies, then Oklahoma could have about $250 million in new funds for highways and bridges by charging the national average in gas taxes. Just charging a gas tax at the level of surrounding states should bring in $125 million more a year. (Newer methods for estimates may show more.)
Instead of acting fiscally responsible, there is talk at the Capitol of issuing highway bonds and robbing schools to pay for them. No wonder those who are concerned about education funding are raising a fuss!
Heaven, save the State of Oklahoma from the tax-cutters!
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
Sound crazy? Absolutely! But this is the situation that our tax-cutting, program-starving legislature has put us into.
The Office of Juvenile Affairs has repeatedly requested funds for the expansion of holding and treatment facilities. The Oklahoma county juvenile detention center is crowded 10% beyond bed capacity, because the state has no room to move juvenile inmates into treatment oriented facilities.
An Oklahoma County judge ordered the director of juvenile justice to take them anyway -- NOW. The director has no place to put them either, and says it would be unfair to the rest of the state to use all coming vacancies to take Oklahoma City offenders in front of others. So, the county judge is holding him in contempt of a court order.
That poor public administrator is indeed hoisted on the horns of a dilemma.
Oklahoma voters are demonstrating short-sightedness, if not plain ignorance, in voting time after time for those legislators who promise tax cuts. Legislators should be in a position to know that they cannot run adequate state services without sufficient tax money. This makes most of them into whatever name category that is the opposite of honest statespersons.
Oklahoma has one of the lowest tax burdens in the country. Anyone who says different is not truthful.
Further, the only reason Oklahoma can even survive as a state with the current level of revenues generated by its individual and corporate taxpayers and highway users is because it has become flush with oil and gas severance (well-head) taxes. These have, of course, increased along with the prices of both oil and natural gas.
Our ordinary tax paying citizens and corporations have had an easy ride – compared to those in most other states. As usual, Oklahoma is living off its minerals during a boom, and it is doing nothing for its infrastructure with that volatile splash of income.
Our legislature has repeatedly cut taxes over the last few years. At the same time those same legislators have added billions to the state debt, to be paid from future revenue. Future funds will be inadequate because of failure to enact taxes specific to the debt, as the constitution requires, and tax-cutting will produce insufficient general funds to maintain services -- much less pay off past debt.
Oklahoma has the lowest total tax burden of any state in the country -- federal, state, and local. Ours is 27.8% compared with the national average of 32.7%. In STATE taxes, Oklahoma is 49th with sales 4.5%, gasoline 17 cents, beer 40 cents a gallon, and cigarettes $1.03.
Only seven states do not have income taxes, but one would not know that by listening to politicians and news media. Only five states, all different from the seven just mentioned, do not have state sales tax. That is the reality. We don’t have to eliminate or cut taxes to be competitive.
Oklahoma’s gasoline taxes are 18.4 cents federal and 17 cents state, for a total of 35.4 cents. This is more than 10 cents below the national average.
If an old rule of thumb still applies, then Oklahoma could have about $250 million in new funds for highways and bridges by charging the national average in gas taxes. Just charging a gas tax at the level of surrounding states should bring in $125 million more a year. (Newer methods for estimates may show more.)
Instead of acting fiscally responsible, there is talk at the Capitol of issuing highway bonds and robbing schools to pay for them. No wonder those who are concerned about education funding are raising a fuss!
Heaven, save the State of Oklahoma from the tax-cutters!
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
