“The entire premise of a market economy is that individuals, possessing better knowledge of their affairs, can allocate labor and capital far more effectively than any government,” Andrew Spiropoulos writes in his latest column. “A government must tax to pay for those public goods that benefit everyone. A wise government takes as few dollars out of the hands of its productive citizens as it can manage.” Spiropoulos, who serves as OCPA’s Milton Friedman Distinguished Fellow, has some good words for the proposal by Gov. Mary Fallin and House Speaker T.W. Shannon to reduce Oklahoma’s personal income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 5.00 percent. I encourage you read his entire column here.

Meanwhile, OCPA president Michael Carnuccio is encouraged by the news that the State Chamber of Oklahoma supports the Fallin-Shannon tax reduction. “The importance of this is that Gov. Sam Brownback succeeded with his income tax cut last year in Kansas because the state’s business community was the biggest voice behind tax cuts,” Carnuccio says. “To have the Chamber backing the governor and the speaker is an important, encouraging, and exciting development in this year’s debate over tax reduction. It is reason for hope, that the business community and the conservative movement now are aligned to back the Fallin-Shannon tax cut for 2013.”

After all, as Carnuccio said in the Journal Record on Friday, Oklahomans deserve actual tax relief, not just tax reform.