Flush with cash, Oklahoma governor pushes tax cuts
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — With state savings accounts and revenue collections at all-time highs, tax cuts will be a top priority for Gov. Kevin Stitt and the Republican-controlled Legislature for the 2023 session that began on Monday.
Stitt, who easily won reelection in November, presented his executive budget proposal to lawmakers and delivered his fifth State of the State address to a joint legislative session. In it, he called for lawmakers to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries and cut the individual and corporate income tax rates.
“In my executive budget I am proposing to eliminate Oklahoma’s state grocery tax and reduce our personal income tax rate to 3.99%,” Stitt said. “These cuts will save each family in Oklahoma hundreds of dollars each year.
“And it will continue to make Oklahoma one of the best states to live, work, and raise your family.”
The governor last year urged the House and Senate to pass similar legislation, but none of those proposals made it into law. All of those are expected to be part of the budget negotiations again this year.
Oklahoma currently has about $1.4 billion in its constitutional Rainy Day Fund and a separate revenue stabilization fund, and the amount of money available for lawmakers to spend on this year’s budget is expected to increase by another $950 million, based on December figures approved by the state Board of Equalization.
“With our fiscal discipline, economic growth, and our record savings, let’s make a significant statement that Oklahoma is here to stay on the national stage,” Stitt said.
Stitt also urged lawmakers to again target transgender children by prohibiting laws that allow gender-affirming medical treatment for minors, even as hundreds of activists chanted “protect trans rights” in the rotunda outside the chamber.
“Minors can’t vote, can’t purchase alcohol, can’t purchase cigarettes. We shouldn’t allow a minor to get a permanent gender altering surgery in Oklahoma,” he said, prompting the gallery to erupt with applause and nearly all Republican members to give him a standing ovation. ”That’s why I am calling on the Legislature to send me a bill that bans all gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies on minors in the state of Oklahoma.”
Those proposals come after the governor signed bills last year to prevent transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams and requiring students in public schools to use only the bathrooms that correspond with their gender at birth.
Lawmakers also are likely to pass a pay raise for teachers, although the details will be hammered out during the session. State Sen. Adam Pugh, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, unveiled a plan last month to give an across-the-board teacher pay raise of between $3,000 and $6,000, based on years of service. But the governor’s Secretary of Education and new State Superintendent Ryan Walters has put forth a plan to give merit-based pay raises to teachers.
The Legislature also is likely to again consider a plan endorsed by Stitt and Walters for a voucher-style plan to divert public education funds from public schools to private schools, although the proposal remains unpopular with many House Republicans, particularly those in rural areas.
A number of bills also have been introduced by Republicans this year to restore some of the abortion restrictions that were imposed last year, including a bill that would allow abortions in cases of rape or incest that have been reported to law enforcement and clarifying the definition of when an abortion is allowed in cases of medical emergencies that threaten the life of the mother.
“That bill is supported and endorsed by Oklahomans for Life, so I would anticipate (it) has a chance of passing,” said Rep. Jon Echols, majority floor leader in the House. “I definitely think it will get considered.”
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