NewsOK
BY FRANK KEATING
Published: August 21, 2010
On the November ballot are a series of state questions that will have an important impact on the future of our state. The most dangerous, the most audacious and the most insidious is State Question 744.
By its terms, and if it passes, common education spending in Oklahoma will require an additional $1.7 billion per year (as estimated by the Oklahoma Policy Institute), which will result in massive tax increases or significant service cuts or both.
Fully implemented, SQ 744 would require an increase of $1,200 per year in property taxes for a family of four; a 34 percent increase in state sales taxes and a 38 percent increase in the state income tax. If budget cuts alone funded this huge transfer of tax revenue to public schools, Oklahoma would be required (at a minimum) to close eight prisons and release 8,400 criminals, face sizable college tuition increases, cut huge sums from law enforcement, public safety and highways and lose $343 million in federal health care matching dollars... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sat, August 21, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski