| The Tax Attack has been launched. Conservatives were expecting it in 2 weeks, but it is now a full frontal assault of tax bills and schemes to take more money from consumers and workers. On Monday, the new chairman of the House Budget Committee, Leslie Osborne, began a campaign to force through so many daily tax bills that it will be difficult to fully research and publish the massive impact of them. A key feature will be the resumption of Rep. Sears' trademark 'back door' tax increases. These schemes involve the scaling back or full removal of exemptions of core income baselines. If the trend continues, there will be massive taxes on even those in poverty already. Currently, the poverty rate for a family of 3 is about $20k per year. That number is set by the federal government and gets adjusted for inflation. Osborne is pushing a measure to remove Oklahoma taxes from that inflation adjustment. If the US economy endures a significant drop in the value of the dollar, or a wave of inflation, then even the poverty income of Oklahomans will be partially confiscated by Osborne's scheme. This measure passed the House floor vote by a minimum 51 Republican votes. A core of 20 Conservatives and the entire Democrat caucus opposed it. |  House Budget Chair, Leslie Osborne |
Any residual notion that Oklahoma's House Republicans are largely fiscal spending-cutters, may be evaporating, this month. Today there will be a special interest giveaway bill. It is rumored to actually cut taxes to the petroleum producers. We encourage all Oklahomans to make a daily call to their own Representative and senator. It is surprising just how few calls these legislators actually get from their own district constituents. I have heard legislators tell me that their key votes have been determined by sometimes just 4 constituent phone calls.
Osborne was elevated to the chairmanship of the budget in a deal made last summer between herself and Speaker-designate, Charles McCall. She had been challenging McCall for the opportunity to replace Jeff Hickman, who termed out of the legislature. It appears that McCall made a campaign promise to Osborne and likely will not remove her from the post regardless of her very unpopular strategy and liberal fiscal advocacy.
Reading Assignment:
Sooner Politics highly recommends reading the daily reports of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) and Americans For Prosperity-OK (AFP-OK); on a daily basis. Additionally, the Trent England Radio Show is a production of OCPA. It is a live morning radio show on AM 1640 (The Eagle) and is available on the Tune In web app. Other key sources of up-to-the-minute tax bills are: Sooner Tea Party, Tulsa 912 Project, and Muskogee Politico. Sooner Politics carries the blog and podcast feeds from all of these sources, on our front page.
Osborne was elevated to the chairmanship of the budget in a deal made last summer between herself and Speaker-designate, Charles McCall. She had been challenging McCall for the opportunity to replace Jeff Hickman, who termed out of the legislature. It appears that McCall made a campaign promise to Osborne and likely will not remove her from the post regardless of her very unpopular strategy and liberal fiscal advocacy.
Reading Assignment:
Sooner Politics highly recommends reading the daily reports of the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) and Americans For Prosperity-OK (AFP-OK); on a daily basis. Additionally, the Trent England Radio Show is a production of OCPA. It is a live morning radio show on AM 1640 (The Eagle) and is available on the Tune In web app. Other key sources of up-to-the-minute tax bills are: Sooner Tea Party, Tulsa 912 Project, and Muskogee Politico. Sooner Politics carries the blog and podcast feeds from all of these sources, on our front page.
