The Oklahoma House of Representatives adjourned the third day of the Special Session regarding the proposed .25% income tax cut. The House Democratic Caucus unanimously voted against the proposed income tax cut.
House Democratic Leader Cyndi Munson says this income tax will disproportionately benefit wealthy Oklahomans, and doesn’t do anything to lower costs for working families.
“For regular Oklahomans, by the time the end of the month comes around, it’s real hard to pay bills, and you may think your income tax cut that will help your friends out may help us, but it doesn’t,” Leader Munson said. “We don’t talk about what will help working Oklahomans, like raising the living wage or creating a living wage for working families. And it’s been shown time and time again when we don’t invest in ourselves and we don’t invest in our state, we can’t bring jobs that can pay higher wages and provide better benefits to do the things that actually allow us to pay our bills, feed our families, and put a roof over our heads. We don’t believe this tax cut is what’s best for Oklahomans. We believe we deserve better.”
Representative Regina Goodwin, D-Tulsa, says taxes are an investment made by the people and they should be seeing a return on that investment.
“When you cut taxes, you cut services,” Rep. Goodwin said. “Oklahoma is already one of the lowest states as it relates to tax rate, and we’re not any better for it. The question is: why are we in this building right now for Special Session to get nothing done. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing. The Oklahoma people deserve better.”
Representative Andy Fugate, D-OKC, says the same tax cut was made in 2022.
“We cut their taxes in 2022,” Rep. Fugate said. “When I go talk to crowds, I ask people to raise their hands if they realized we cut their taxes two years ago. The only people who raised their hands are CPAs. For the rest of the people, they didn’t notice. This penny and a half pay raise is a slap in the face to working Oklahomans and we deserve better. We are a poor state because we are a poorly led state.”
Representative Mickey Dollens, D-OKC, says tax cuts harm necessary government services.
“We have heard from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation that our roads and bridges and dams are in terrible shape, they are not safe,” Rep. Dollens said. “We need to invest in those. We need to invest in this state. We need to show companies that this place is an opportunity to raise a family and make the most out of your potential. But instead, we are here today for political gamesmanship because it’s an election year. The Senate’s not even here today, yet we are going to discuss an income tax cut that we don’t even have the latest data for.”
