Fallin calls for system review
Tulsa World
By World's Editorial Writers
Published: 8/20/20102:23 AM
Last Modified: 8/20/20104:29 AM
U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, the Republican nominee for governor, has come up with a great idea: get rid of the state income tax. Actually, she isn't the first to propose it, but she's the latest to espouse it on the campaign trail.
Only problem with this fabulous idea is nobody's been able to figure out yet how to run state government and services without the nearly $2 billion a year generated by personal and corporate income taxes - a sum that represents nearly 40 percent of the general fund's revenue.
That huge chunk of change goes far toward funding such important state functions as education, public safety and health care.
While campaigning a few days ago, Fallin told supporters she supports a trigger mechanism that eventually will reduce the state income tax to 5.25 percent She went on to say she'd like to ultimately get rid of state income taxes.
She admitted she didn't have a plan for replacing income-tax revenue in order to keep the state up and running, but said she'd appoint a task force to study how to replace revenue lost by the cutting or elimination of any taxes.
She's not the first to come up with that idea either. Task force after task force has looked at revamping the state tax structure. What governors and other leaders have found - at least up until now - is that nobody is willing to accept any new type of taxation that would be necessary to replace any that is lost... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Fri, August 20, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski