Oklahoma’s Senate Finance Committee passes several tax bills, including one by Sen. Mike Mazzei to halt the state’s recently enacted income tax cuts.
Gov. Mary Fallin and House Speaker Jeff Hickman oppose Mazzei's bill to undo cutting the top rate from 5.25 to 5 percent, but the committee sent it to the full Senate with a 10–2 vote.
Another Mazzei bill passed would cap appropriation of corporate income and gross production tax revenues when they exceed a five-year average. Mazzei said if the revenues are up more than 10 percent, only 10 percent may be budgeted.
"The excess above that amount would be deposited into a so-called new stabilization fund, which would, in essence, complement the current rainy-day fund," Mazzei said.
Mazzei targeted the corporate income and gross production taxes because they’re the most volatile.
At least two bills and a joint resolution dealing with Internet sales tax go to the full Senate as well. Oklahoma City Republican Stephanie Bice wrote one bill. Hers relies on the U.S. Congress passing the Marketplace Fairness Act or the Remote Transactions Parity Act.
"We estimate that the state is currently losing upward of $150 million annually in revenues that are not collected," Bice said.
On a busy day where the finance Committee approved bills to roll back the recent personal income tax cut, halt insurance premium tax credits and prepare to collect online sales tax, Sen. Clark Jolley’s bill to reform the state tax code flew under the radar.
Jolley is calling for a 12-person commission of business and finance experts to tackle a total overhaul.
"If we're going to keep on doing it through a legislative mechanism, I don't know that we're going to get there," Jolley said. "We have to have buy-in, I think, from the private sector in order to get that done."
The panel voted 13–0 for Jolley’s bill, which aims to stabilize tax receipts and keep Oklahoma’s overall tax burden in the bottom 10 nationally.
