Lawmaker wants lower threshold for tax increase
One of the Oklahoma House's senior lawmakers has filed legislation that could lower the vote threshold for tax increases and other revenue-raising measures.
Speaker Pro Tempore Harold Wright, R-Weatherford, filed the bill in anticipation of the next regular legislative session scheduled to begin Feb. 5.
To raise revenue, Oklahoma's constitution requires threefourths of its lawmakers to vote in favor of a bill. That requirement made it nearly impossible for lawmakers to pass tax increases since 1992, when voters statewide approved State Question 640.
State Question 640 placed a constitutional mandate that any revenue bills originating in the Legislature meet strict guidelines for passage. Along with the vote requirement, those bills must be filed in the House rather than the Senate and cannot be adopted in the final five days of the session.
Members of the Oklahoma House have been stymied by the requirement over the past year, in part because of partisan politics. Despite holding a solid majority, Republicans couldn’t muster enough of a coalition with Democrats to secure tax hikes. When GOP leadership offered a gross production tax increase that Democrats supported, a bloc of conservative Republicans rallied to oppose it.
Wright’s bill, which could be put before a statewide vote in November if it passes in the Legislature, would lower the threshold to 60 percent of voting members at the Oklahoma Capitol.
“This has been the most difficult legislative year since I was elected,” Wright said. “Partly because of two special extraordinary sessions, but also because it has been impossible to pass necessary revenue measures to provide for
adequate core services in Oklahoma: roads and bridges, public safety, education, public health and corrections.”
Wright noted that the 60 percent threshold is the same needed for voters to approve local school bond issues.
“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.
Lawmakers have yet to completely fill the shortfall caused when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the cigarette fee adopted last year was an unconstitutional tax. Along with not meeting the 75 percent requirement to pass revenue-raising measures, the court also noted that lawmakers passed the bill in the waning hours of the session.
State budget officers expect another shortfall in the next budget year, which is scheduled to begin July 1.