You Gotta’ Be In the Room

Many of you who have known me very long and have followed my political career over the last ten years know that I generally tell it like it is at least to the best of my ability. I have made a conscious decision that may make some of you a little nervous. That decision was to become one of the principal authors of HB 3038 that starts the discussion of whether or not to phase out the State income tax. Now let me start this discussion with a statement that I want you to etch in your brain. You cannot raise property taxes in the state of Oklahoma without a vote of the people. You’re not gonna’ vote for that and neither am I. That being said, I feel like this discussion is going to occur whether we like it or not and I also know that if I’m gonna’ have any input on how this bill looks I have got to be in the room when it is discussed. You have my full assurance that if I smell a rat or if I see a booger or anything that would spook any of us I’m gonna’ be very vocal and furthermore, if I don’t like the direction that this discussion goes I will pull my name and vote against a bill that I think could be bad. I know that as this bill progresses there will be numerous changes and adjustments and I’d like to be present as those are made. I feel very strongly about this issue and I’m gonna’ quote some of my old friends, one of them said “a deal is only a good deal if it’s good for both sides.” Another one said “if you’re not in the room you can’t make a difference.” I think that it’s imperative that someone be in the room that’s not afraid to ask the hard questions. Now, my concerns are the same as many of yours. I know that to run this state it takes a certain amount of dollars and I know full well that we have to generate those dollars from somewhere. My favorite analogy is it takes a certain amount of diesel to run this train and the only way to run the train any cheaper is to make the train more efficient whether that’s a tune up or making the load lighter or whatever.

The school of thought behind the elimination or phase out of the state income tax is that more people and businesses will gravitate toward the state that’s more tax friendly and I know what you’re gonna’ say next. Texas doesn’t have an income tax but their ad valorem tax is through the roof and I think the same thing which brings us back to my initial statement. You cannot raise property taxes in the state of Oklahoma without a vote of the people. I know that you and I feel the same way about those property taxes. We have enough heartburn as it is with a county assessor’s ability to raise them up to 5% a year. That’s the reason that the 5% cap was put in place several years ago to keep rogue assessors from going crazy and jacking your taxes up. Many times that law was misconstrued as a requirement to increase property taxes but it’s intent was always to be a cap. My thoughts on the elimination of the income tax are that we will have to replace that revenue and my fear is that for that growth to occur that some economists believe will happen there will be some dips or bumps in the road along the way. Because if a major employer decided Monday morning that they were gonna’ move to Oklahoma and employ 500 people, a lot of time could pass between the time that decision was made and that major company actually came online and started producing whatever it is they produce and hired those employees. If you think that me adding my name as an author means that I’m totally sold on the concept or that I have in some way “drank the kool-aid” please don’t jump to any conclusions. I fully believe that this issue needs discussed and thoroughly vetted and again it will occur whether you are for or against and my goal is to be in the room to hopefully apply some common sense to a very controversial issue and in the end if I don’t like what’s coming or if enough of you don’t like what’s coming I will be totally out of it at that point.

If you would like to contact me at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to call 1-800-522-8502 or email me at donarmes@okhouse.gov

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:
A person doesn't know how much he has to be thankful for until he has to pay taxes on it. ~Author Unknown