<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-article_head" style="margin:3.2px 0px 0px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif,Georgia;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;background-color:transparent"><p class="gmail-uptitle" style="margin:0px;padding:0px 10px;line-height:8.8px;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_3" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"><font size="4"><span>OKLAHOMA’S GOVERNMENT</span>
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<span style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal;font-weight:700"> GOP confronts another failed tax experiment </span></font>
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<div class="gmail-div_paddingarticle" style="margin:0px;padding:3px"><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> By SEAN MURPHY</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_1" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> Associated Press</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> OKLAHOMA CITY — When the GOP took full control of Oklahoma government after the 2010 election, lawmakers set out to make it a model of Republican principles, with lower taxes, lighter regulation and a raft of business-friendly reforms.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> Conservatives passed all of it, setting in motion a grand experiment. Now it’s time for another big election, but instead of campaigning on eight years of achievements, Republicans are confronting chaos and crisis. Agency budgets that were cut during the Great Recession have been slashed even deeper. Rural hospitals are closing, and teachers are considering a statewide strike over low wages.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> “I’m not scared to say it, because I love Oklahoma, and we are dying,” said Republican state Rep. Leslie Osborn. “I truly believe the situation is dire.”</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> Oklahoma’s woes offer the ultimate cautionary tale for other states considering trickle-down economic reforms. The outlook is so grim that some Republicans are willing to consider the ultimate heresy: raising taxes to fund education and health care, an idea that was once the exclusive province of Democrats.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> “Without new recurring revenue, we can’t fix these problems,” said Osborn, who was ousted as chairwoman of the powerful House Appropriations and Budget committee for her outspoken support of tax increases.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> The crisis has also placed the oil and gas industry, a sacred cow in Oklahoma, in an awkward spot since it sought the huge tax cut that is one of the biggest factors in the budget mess.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> Gov. Mary Fallin and GOP leaders have been unable to reverse course because of a constitutional quirk that says any tax increase needs a threefourth’s majority vote of the Legislature. Despite</span><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> broad GOP support for tax hikes, a small number of fiercely anti-tax Republicans have joined with the minority Democrats to derail attempts to raise revenue. Democrats complain that most of the tax plans unfairly target the poor.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> While state leaders bicker over how it went wrong and what to do about it, a half-dozen Republicans are jockeying to succeed Fallin, who cannot seek reelection because of term limits.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> Although the candidates represent different wings of the party, all of them agree about the depth of the problem. And while none of them want to use the word “tax,” several talk about replacing some of the revenue that has been cut in recent years. That replacement money could scarcely come from any other source except taxes.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> The only GOP candidate for governor who openly advocates for a tax hike is Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones, an accountant and former chairman of the state Republican Party. He’s been particularly critical of the Legislature’s decision to make permanent a generous tax incentive on new oil and gas production. Fallin signed that bill just before the price of oil plummeted in 2014. The price drop dealt another major blow to the energy-dependent economy.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> The drilling industry now pays an effective tax rate in Oklahoma that is far lower than in any other state, a factor cited by the teachers threatening a strike.</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> “We’ve got to face the truth,” Jones said. “We need somebody who’s willing to tell the truth about how we got here, where we’re at and has a plan to get out.”</span></p><p class="gmail-abody" style="margin:10px 15px 0px 0px;padding:0px 10px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:normal;font-weight:400"><span class="gmail-Fid_2" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;line-height:normal"> Since 2009, more than two dozen state agencies have seen their budgets slashed by more than 30 percent. The cuts have been especially painful in public schools, where funding has dipped since 2015, even though enrollment has climbed by about 10,000 students statewide.</span></p></div></div><br></div>