Republican Gov. Mary Fallin says she wants to eliminate the sales tax on groceries and the corporate income tax while expanding the state's sales tax base in other areas to boost state revenue and help eliminate an $870 million budget hole.
Fallin's plans came from prepared remarks from her state of the state speech to the state House and Senate to open the 2017 Oklahoma Legislature.
Fallin says the sales tax on groceries is "the most regressive tax on the books today." She says its elimination will benefit all Oklahomans and save a family of four between $350 and $676 a year.
Fallin says the corporate income tax is a volatile source of revenue. The governor says eliminating it will reduce paperwork and red tape that burdens many small businesses.
She is urging state lawmakers to modernize the Oklahoma's sales tax to state boost revenue and eliminate chronic budget deficits.
Fallin says the state sales tax has historically depended on the manufacture and sale of goods. But she says the sales tax has become outdated as the nation's economy has shifted to a service-based economy.
The governor says expanding Oklahoma's sales tax base will allow the Legislature to fulfill her request to eliminate the state sales tax on groceries and the corporate income tax. She says it may be possible in the future to further lower the sales tax rate.
Mary Fallin is asking state lawmakers to boost the state tax on gasoline and diesel fuel and to increase the state tax on cigarettes.
Fallin's cigarette tax proposal is similar to one she proposed last year that lawmakers failed to act on.
The governor says smoking remains the No. 1 preventable cause of death in Oklahoma and costs the state $1.62 billion in health care costs.
Fallin also wants to boost the fuel and diesel taxes to the regional state average. She says Oklahoma currently ranks 48th in the state diesel tax in the nation and 49th in the gasoline tax.
Oklahoma's Republican governor says a pay raise for public school teachers is a necessity, even if it has to be phased in. Teacher pay has not been increased in Oklahoma since 2008. The state faces a chronic teacher shortage as experienced educators seek higher-paying jobs elsewhere.
She used her state of the state speech Monday to call for more state tax dollars to reach classrooms by tackling administrative inefficiencies. She says she's creating a task force to review the state education funding formula and evaluate funding sources.
Gov. Mary Fallin says she wants to invest more state money into public safety to keep families and communities safe.
The governor says about 26 percent of Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers are eligible for retirement and that the state must fund a trooper academy to replenish the patrol's ranks. She also says the agency should avoid furloughing troopers and restricting their travel to 100 miles a day because of lack of funding.
During her speech, Fallin recognized Trooper Brian Costanza and other troopers who last fall helped pursue and apprehend Michael Vance Jr., who died at the end of a deadly, weeklong crime spree.
She believes the state can be tough and smart on crime.
Gov. Mary Fallin said during her state of the state speech Monday that Oklahoma should reform its criminal justice system to reduce the growing prison population.
Fallin says more than 61,000 people are currently under the jurisdiction of the state Department of Corrections, and the prison population is expected to grow by 25 percent in the next 10 years.
Fallin says the Oklahoma Justice Reform Task Force is working on smart-on-crime policies to focus on improving public safety. Her budget includes new money for corrections and treatment, which includes a $50 million bond issue to build wings on a men's and a women's prison for substance abuse offenders and rehabilitation.
She says the state needs to develop a plan to improve the health outcomes of Oklahomans.
Fallin says health care premiums are increasing at a dramatic rate and deductibles are so high people can scarcely afford the insurance coverage they have purchased.
With the help of local health care leaders, officials are developing a plan we will submit to the new administration to fix some of the problems we have seen in Oklahoma.
The Governor says officials hope to reduce regulations to create cheaper insurance plans and encourage investment in private health accounts and use local programs, like Insure Oklahoma.
Fallin says her executive budget identifies the state's most urgent needs and a bond proposal to address them. Needs include a new Department of Health laboratory and improving facilities for corrections, mental health and juvenile affairs. Fallin says investing in the state will make Oklahoma a place where people want to live, work and raise a family.
Fallin is trying to minimize the impact of a roughly $870 million budget hole. It threatens to decimate funding to core state agencies that have seen budgets slashed in recent years amid a downturn in the energy industry.