State Lawmaker Pitches Tax Reform Bill

One Democratic state lawmaker is proposing a tax plan that, he says, will help bridge the state’s budget deficit. But Republicans say the bill doesn’t stand a chance. 

The state legislature is facing a roughly $900-million budget shortfall. One lawmaker says he has a plan to raise about $500-million of that with a tax reform package.

Representative Jason Dunnington (D) Oklahoma City said his plan really has three levels:

• A Tax Increase For Wealthiest 3% of Oklahomans
• A Capital Gains Tax on the sale of, among other things, stocks, bonds and property
• And a change in Corporate Income Taxes

Dunnington said, right now businesses with subsidiaries in other states, like Delaware, can shift their profits there. "They can put a lot of their assets and their profits on the books in Delaware and therefore avoid paying some of those taxes to the state that they're doing business in."

Dunnington would also like to see a tax increase for the rich. He said it would not impact 97-percent of Oklahomans.

"You'd have to make $100-thousand as an individual or $200-thousand as a household.  It would go from five to six percent. If you made $200-thousand as an individual or $400-thousand as a household, it would go from six to seven percent,” said Dunnington.

He continued, "This just seems to be a common-sense way to close a few tax loopholes.  To ask the highest income earners to pay a little bit more of their fair share in order for us to all have a better state."

But Republicans in the House said raising taxes is not the answer.

"Before we raise taxes we need to get our house in order. We need to do something about these tax credits,” said Representative Bobby Cleveland (R) Slaughterville. “We need to do something with these agencies. We need to do something about these superintendents in the state of Oklahoma."