House Dems to blame for cigarette tax failure

OKLAHOMA House Speaker Charles McCall decided Wednesday to effectively end a legislative special session until a budget agreement has been developed. Blame for this continued dysfunction lies squarely with Minority Leader Scott Inman and the Democratic caucus.

The special session call by Gov. Mary Fallin covered a wide range of issues, but none is more pressing than the need to approve a cigarette tax increase with the constitutionally required supermajority. This is the only tax that receives strong public backing (65 percent approval when revenues are dedicated to health care), yet it hasn’t passed in the House because Inman, D-Del City, and his caucus won’t let it.

Inman’s defenders will object that Republicans hold supermajorities in the Legislature. But the cigarette tax is a rare instance where the votes of the minority party are required for passage and can truly make a difference. About three-fourths of House Republicans support the cigarette tax. A roughly equal share of Democrats is needed to pass it.

Yet time and again, House Democrats have refused to do so. They have balked at advancing a policy they claim to support (raising the cigarette tax) to fund a cause they claim to support (health care programs that serve the poor). Democrats say they wanted to also increase other taxes, but only one tax increase is feasible. And for now they’ve killed it.

Oklahomans shouldn’t forget these shenanigans in next year’s elections, particularly in the governor’s race where Inman is an announced candidate. Those who sabotage the engine of government should not be rewarded with keys to the car.

House Democrats have long included a cigarette tax increase in their own budget plan. Yet most of the caucus has locked up in opposition every time a cigarette tax bill has been offered. House Democrats prevented a cigarette tax increase in the 2016 session and did the same in the 2017 regular session. Now they’re preventing a cigarette tax increase in the 2017 special session. The pattern is obvious: Democrats say one thing, but do the opposite.

McCall, R-Atoka, was blunt in his announcement Wednesday, saying, “It is clear that House Democrats continue to play politics and do not intend to vote in support of the cigarette tax to address the budget hole …”

Democrats’ motivation is transparently political, if morally repugnant. The worse things get in state government, the more they think Republicans will be blamed and their party will benefit. Inman seems to think voters will want to elect him governor to fix state finances after he was a leading cause of government dysfunction the past two years.

That calculation has led Inman and his caucus to oppose a cigarette tax knowing their inaction will result in cuts to the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Department of Human Services. Democrats claim to support all those agencies, and often say cuts will cause people to suffer or die.

If Democrats truly believe what they say when making those claims, then there’s only one way to interpret their actions: They believe the pain and suffering of others is a small price to pay to make marginal gains in legislative power next year.

Somehow, we doubt those affected by this obstruction will agree.