This week, Global Strategy Group, a New York City polling firm, released a survey suggesting Oklahoma voters would prefer to not have a scheduled reduction of Oklahoma’s income tax rate take effect next January. Dave Bond, CEO of OCPA Impact, issued this statement rebutting the claims:
“This was little more than a slanted push poll by Global Strategy Group, a New York City firm looked at nationally as the Democratic pollster of the year for 2015.
“People who have consistently opposed tax relief for Oklahoma families commissioned this poll, so we shouldn’t be surprised by the results. The wording of the questions was clearly designed to scare respondents with make-believe predictions about what tax relief would result in.
“There is no evidence the upcoming scheduled income tax rate reduction of a quarter-percent will reduce Oklahoma’s state government services. The pollster’s questions admit this. In fact, there is ample evidence the past decade that income tax relief in Oklahoma has helped produce record-high total tax collections year after year, contributing to record-high funding for schools, roads, health care for the less fortunate and other services.
“Global Strategy Group is the same firm that, last spring, suggested Oklahoma should increase taxes on oil and natural gas drilling by 600 percent. Thank goodness lawmakers didn’t take their advice, as the price of oil has dropped in half since that time. A higher tax burden on drilling would have only increased the sting Oklahoma’s economy has experienced the last few months.
“This firm has also worked to support the Obama administration’s efforts to prevent completion of the Keystone XL Pipeline, killing thousands of jobs.
“The poll misleadingly suggested to respondents that Oklahoma’s top tax rate only applies to the rich. The fact is, our state’s top rate kicks in for single mothers with taxable income of $8,700 a year and for many other Oklahomans who would only be considered ‘rich’ if they lived in a third-world country.
“Instead of rolling back tax relief for working mothers and fathers, policymakers should focus on additional relief, perhaps by first eliminating the income tax for schoolteachers across our state.
“The poll results also depict Oklahoma as a hotbed of class warfare and suggest citizens want more federal government overreach in their daily lives. Numerous surveys from firms in tune with Oklahoma voters have consistently shown the opposite is true.”
OCPA Impact is a nonpartisan advocacy organization and serves as the action partner of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, the state’s free-market think tank. For more information, contact Dave Bond at 405.633.3475 or dave@ocpaimpact.com.
