Change the name

A coalition of business leaders, Step Up Oklahoma, proposes tax increases to alleviate the budget crisis. Proposed changes include increasing personal income taxes by $175 million.

They propose doing away with unspecified personal tax deductions and loopholes and the voting limitations required to raise taxes.

Nowhere can I find what tax deductions or so-called loopholes they are talking about. What kind of Oklahoma tax deductions and loopholes does the average

Oklahoman now have left?

Noticeably absent is a request to do away with loopholes enjoyed by Oklahoma businesses, like not being required to report income using “combined tax reporting” as 24 other states do. Failure to require combined tax reporting allows

Oklahoma businesses to artificially shift income to low- or no-tax locations like Texas. How about taxing the Oklahoma businesses that use Delaware, the Cayman Islands, Texas and other low-tax locations under the guise of “holding” or “investment”? What about doing away with the 22 percent depletion rate and use the 15 percent rate allowed by federal tax law?

We should be especially thankful for legislative limitations on raising taxes that should facilitate working together. Step Up Oklahoma should change its name to “Stomp on Oklahomans.”

Wayne Watts, Mustang