Effort to limit state spending ditched
Mick Hinton, World Capitol Bureau
March 17, 2006
A TABOR-like resolution is pulled from the agenda as lawmakers approve three bills that are part of the GOP tax-reform plan.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The House author of a bill intended to constrain state spending said Thursday that he has abandoned his efforts, while Republicans moved forward with their tax-cut platform.
The cast-aside measure is similar to a pending initiative petition, the so-called Taxpayers Bill of Rights, and would have asked voters to consider a state constitutional amendment limiting the growth of the state budget to the inflation rate and the growth of the state population.
Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond, said he decided to pull House Joint Resolution 1020 from the agenda because time was running out, and he expected that the bill would have been "dead on arrival" in the state Senate.
Members faced a Thursday deadline to hear all House bills before adjournment.
Miller noted that the House has been meeting almost nightly this week, and he feared that his bill would prompt hours of debate.
"We're tired," he said. "The House has been through a lot of work this week, and this would be a highly emotional debate."
Although Miller's proposal is dead, an initiative petition calling for a vote on a similar plan is pending before the state Supreme Court.
A similar measure was passed -- and subsequently reversed -- by Colorado voters.
Also Thursday, the House approved three bills that are part of the Republican tax-reform plan:
House Bill 3124 would cut Oklahoma's income-tax rate to 5.85 percent from 6.25 percent, permanent cuts of about $130 million a year.
HB 3125 would repeal Oklahoma's estate tax, a cut of about $85 million a year. Estates of less than $1 million already are exempt.
HB 2958 would offer a tax credit for stay-at-home parents, based on the federal child day-care credit. Passage would provide an estimated $20 million in tax relief.
"Oklahoma's income tax is too high," House Speaker Todd Hiett, R-Kellyville, said. "The death tax is just plain wrong, and we must do more to help parents who want to stay at home with their children."
State leaders say some tax cuts are likely this year because tax revenue is likely to jump, a result primarily of high oil and gas prices.
Also Thursday, the House approved HB 3122, which would use tax incentives to encourage Oklahomans to support local charities, said Rep. Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa.
"It's good to see tax dollars at work in your own community," he said.
Rep. Al Lindley, D-Oklahoma City, tried unsuccessfully to win passage of an amendment that would have helped low-income working families that he says cannot afford to make charitable contributions.
Lindley's amendment would have increased slightly a state earned-income credit that the "working poor" receive based on the federal allowance. An adult with two children can receive a federal tax credit of $3,800 based on an income of $9,500, according to the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
Oklahomans now can claim a credit amounting to 5 percent of the federal earned-credit allowance, but Lindley's amendment would have upped the share to 10 percent.
