SQ #640 is UNDER ATTACK!!

Weekly Opinion Editorial

EFFECTIVE OR WORTHLESS?

by Steve Fair

     Republicans have traditionally been for smaller government, lower taxes and personal responsibility.  The GOP platform states the role of government is to protect individuals' rights and that individuals and society are better off when the government is less involved in citizen’s lives.  The Democrat platform states that government’s role is to regulate private enterprise (banking, manufacturing, healthcare, etc) and to help the downtrodden.  Simply put, Democrats believe government is the solution to most problems, Republicans believe government is the problem.   

     A 2012 Gallup poll showed that voters' views on the size of government align with the party they identify with. Eighty-two (82) percent of Republicans polled felt that the government was doing too much; while sixty-seven (67) percent of Democrats felt that the government should be doing more.  In recent years, the difference between the two Parties has become difficult to ascertain, particularly at the state level.  

     Oklahoma House Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Harold Wright, (R-Weatherford) has announced he will present a House Joint Resolution (#1032) in the upcoming session that if passed by Oklahoma voters would lower the number of legislative votes needed to raise taxes from 75% to 60%.  “I am proposing legislation that would put to a vote a change in the revenue-raising requirement in the constitution that would lower the requirement to 60 percent, the same as a school bond issue. Many agree that this would be a fair compromise and still make it difficult to raise revenue. There will be opposition to this measure, but I hope you will support the change in order to make your state government more effective,” Wright said.   Everyone is for more effective, but it appears Wright’s proposal only makes it more effective for the legislature to raise taxes.  

     Currently, 76 House and 36 Senate members have to agree a new tax is needed- a high threshold but is that a bad thing?  SQ #640 makes it difficult to pass a tax increase, but not impossible.  Lowering it to 61 House and 29 Senate members will certainly mean more taxes.  Before SQ #640 was approved in March 1992 by a 56%-44% margin, taxes went up every legislative session.  If Wright’s proposal is passed, Oklahoma takes a giant step backward and will go back to trying to tax itself into prosperity, which didn’t work in our state’s first century and won’t work now.

     Maybe Rep. Wright doesn’t remember those years before SQ #640.  Perhaps he has embraced the concept government is the solution and not the problem, but whatever his motivation, his proposal is not consistent with Republican principles or the GOP platform.  The Republican leadership in Oklahoma needs to spend more time searching for waste in state government and less time trying to get more of the taxpayer’s money.  The opposite of effective is worthless- that is what Wright’s proposal is.