It's Time to Take Care of
OKLAHOMA FIRST
The Oklahoma Legislature is considering adopting permanent tax cuts of unprecedented proportions. These include:
- SB 2022: Slashes the top income tax rate from 6.25%
to 4.9% ($480 million impact)
- $343 million (70%) of cut goes to top 20% of taxpayers
- only $49.4 million (11%) would benefit the bottom 60% of taxpayers
- SB 334: Abolishes the estate tax ($87.8 million impact)
- SB 2016: Increases exemptions on retirement income ($181 million impact)
These cuts would be on top of permanent tax cuts enacted over the past two sessions that exceed $300 million.
Reducing our revenue base in response to current good times is short-sighted and irresponsible. Now is our opportunity to take care of our unmet needs in key areas that are critical for our state's prosperity, well-being, and security. NOW IS THE TIME TO TAKE CARE OF:
Our Students, Teachers, and Schools
- We rank 49th in average salary of public school teachers (2004)
- Per pupil spending in public elementary and secondary schools is $7.011
- Oklahoma is at 86% of the national average of $8,156 per pupil (2004)
- College tuition has risen 82% over the past six years (OU resident undergraduate)
- Higher education officials have noted that students will face another double-digit tuition increase unless the Legislature can deliver $123 million in additional funding to meet rising costs
Our Roads and Bridges
- The Transportation Department estimates the state's decaying infrastructure repair costs at $11.2 billion
- We rank 3rd in the country with 8,757 deficient bridges (2004)
Our Health Care System
- We are third in the nation in the percentage of adults lacking health insurance (2003-04)
- Our hospitals provided over $500 million in uncompensated care in 2005, shifting more of the cost burden to those with insurance
Our Frontline Public Safety Employees
- The Corrections Department lost 418 employees since 2002 and would need to add close to 700 staff to return to a 5% vacancy rate
- Funding for our juvenile justice system has been cut 10% since 2002, leading to critical staff shortages
Our Most Vulnerable Citizens
- Approximately 3,000 families with a developmentally disabled child are on a waiting list to receive the home and community-based medical services they need
- We are at least 110 child welfare workers and supervisors short of our needs to provide adequate protection to children under state care
Our Unfunded Liabilities
- Our state pension systems have an unfunded liability of over $10 billion, including $7.1 billion for the teachers' retirement system pension alone. This liability harms our credit rating and increases the cost of borrowing money