Oklahoma lawmakers move quickly on tax reform
(The Center Square) – The Oklahoma House of Representatives will decide on a flurry of tax relief bills, including one that would repeal the state’s grocery tax, on Wednesday.
Gov. Kevin Stitt called lawmakers back into session to consider the grocery tax and a personal income tax break.
House leaders released several possible bills on Monday. Five of the bills addressed reducing the grocery tax. Two of the bills would enact a two-year moratorium. The other four would permanently end the grocery tax with or without local restrictions.
Lawmakers also presented several options for a personal income tax reduction. One would reduce the personal income tax from 4.75% to 4.5% for two years beginning in tax year 2022. Another would reduce the personal income tax permanently from 4.75 to 4.5% beginning in tax year 2023. A third reduces the tax from 4.75 to 4.25% permanently beginning in tax year 2023.
Other bills would phase out the corporate income tax over the next eight years and suspension the franchise tax.
House leaders also presented a bill that would reduce the appropriation to the governor’s office to 2019 levels, a reduction of $3.6 million allotted for fiscal year 2023 to $1.7 million.
Other bills would slash funding for the Office of Management and Enterprise Services and the state’s Health Care Authority.
“We expect some combination of these bills, but not all of them, to reach the finish line and become law. The House is presenting options to, once again, start and lead a thoughtful conversation on the best path forward for inflation relief,” said House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, in a news release. “The majority of these options have already passed the House, and we will pass them again plus other options.”
The House will hear the bills on second reading on Tuesday before hearing them a third time and voting on them Wednesday, said House Floor Leader Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, during Monday’s session.
Lawmakers are also holding another special session concurrently to discuss American Rescue Plan Act funding. The Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding approved six requests last week, including a $30.4 million request for the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital Behavioral Health Center and $25 million for nonprofit grant programs.
The House will also vote on the ARPA projects on Wednesday following Senate approval of the projects, Echols said.
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