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Carnuccio: Targeted Tax Cuts Lead to Growth

Free Market Friday: Oklahoma has reason for hope

by Michael C. Carnuccio, February 21st, 2013

Last year, Gov. Mary Fallin staked out high ground on the issue of tax relief by rolling out what was then the most aggressive plan in the nation. Likewise, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback ushered through the biggest tax cut in his state’s history. Now, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Nebraska’s Dave Heineman have unveiled similar proposals. This year, Fallin is again calling for tax cuts. While more measured in scope, the across-the-board tax relief would be paid for entirely out of growth revenue. Such measures have proven time and again to lead to economic growth.

Senate President Pro Tempore Brian Bingman has stood firm that the best way to bring down costs for Oklahoma employers while also accounting for the needs of workers is to shift from the state’s adversarial judicial structure to an administrative system for processing injured worker claims. Oklahoma currently has the sixth-highest workers’ compensation insurance premium rates in the country. This places an unnecessary burden on employers, motivating some of them to leave the state and signaling others to keep out – meaning fewer jobs here.

House Speaker T.W. Shannon is focused on the approaching fallout when the federal government hits the fiscal wall. To prepare Oklahoma, Shannon has elevated the conversation about right-sizing state government. With U.S. government debt now exceeding the country’s annual gross domestic product, state leaders don’t have to be clairvoyant to recognize a day of fiscal reckoning. Our elected officials must exercise political courage to forego business as usual and ensure that Oklahoma doesn’t crater when federal coffers run dry. Shannon appears committed to reducing burdensome regulations and resisting federal and state intrusions on the lives of Oklahomans.

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