OCPA Impact
Dave Bond, CEO of OCPA Impact, Inc., issued the following comments today regarding a new survey by Global Strategy Group, a New York City polling firm, which questioned support for a reduction of Oklahoma’s income tax rate:
“It’s appropriate for Oklahomans to have an honest, open debate about whether reducing Oklahoma’s penalty on work, our state income tax, is a good idea. But the survey released on the subject this week by the New York City firm that’s also leading the charge against the Keystone XL pipeline is distorted and used incomplete information to mislead the Oklahoma voters whose views it claims to represent.
“What Global Strategy Group has released here in Oklahoma is nothing more than a push poll, inaccurately claiming income tax reductions would lead to a loss of funds for core state services such as schools, prisons and roads.
“In fact, Oklahoma’s experience with income tax reductions shows that, like in other states and nationally, lower taxes on work and productivity tend to grow the tax base. Oklahoma’s growing economy, fueled in part by income tax reductions, has tax collections and state government spending on track to reach all-time highs in the current fiscal year, just like last year and the year before.
“Further, Global Strategy Group, in their Oklahoma survey, chose not to focus on likely voters, making their survey a questionable representation of the views of Oklahomans, not to mention taxpayers, who will show up at the polls.
“In recent months, the state of Oklahoma, and the Tulsa area in particular, have suffered several announcements that will result in a shrinking of the tax base. Dollar Thrifty and American Airlines are sending hundreds of high-paying jobs away from Tulsa, all going to states that charge either no penalty on work or a lower penalty than Oklahoma’s.
“And just this week, one of our state’s most well-known citizens, one of the top-selling recording artists of all time, announced he is moving to Tennessee, a state that will not tax him on the fruits of his labor.
“Truth be told, it is becoming harder and harder for policymakers to ignore the fact that tax rates, particularly higher taxes on work, have an impact on economic development, job growth and the ability of state governments to fund the services taxpayers want.”
