Editorial roundup

May 8

The Journal Record

Okla. pays its way

Finally, there is some level of agreement that Oklahoma has to pay its way. There are no free roads, no free schools, no free prisons.

The remaining question is who will pick up the tab. Legislators and the governor will figure that out this month, and Oklahomans should be encouraged that even the most ardent of the smaller-government crusaders has come around to the idea that the state can’t afford to keep cutting taxes.

The response so far has been a long way from perfect. Leadership has declined to give criminal justice reform proposals the serious, urgent attention they require. Critical repairs alone will cost $123.5 million, and the overcrowded, under-supervised, dilapidated facilities will only worsen with time. Prosecutors, public defenders, mental health experts, the governor and the public have all called for an end to harsh prison terms for nonviolent offenders. Only some parole board members and the Legislature seem to think there’s no problem there, and they’re dead wrong.

Teachers need raises. Publicly funded education is critical to maintaining first-world standards, and good teachers are critical to good educations.

There are many other needs that have reached critical status, and there’s no fat left to trim. That leaves only one option: Increase state revenue, which is a nice way of saying, “Raise taxes.”

The best effort put forth to date would have cut some oil and gas incentives and raised taxes on motor fuel and cigarettes. Those three proposals would combine to improve the state’s economic picture by $675.4 million, more than twothirds of what’s needed to close the budget gap.

Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for refusing to budge on the gasoline tax increase; yes, it’s a bigger proportion of the poor’s income as are all sales taxes, but that’s an increase that’s long, long overdue.

Republicans have refused to consider any adjustment to the gross production tax rate, and they should be equally ashamed. A small increase would leave the state in a strongly competitive position while inching Oklahoma closer to the rates Texas and North Dakota collect.

We applaud the Legislature for preventing any further income tax cuts, but they must quickly move off their ideological turf and lead.