Budget & Tax
Jonathan Small | March 23, 2018
Telling the truth about SQ 640
Jonathan Small
Whether it’s The Economist, The Washington Post, Bloomberg News, or their accomplices in Oklahoma, some just can’t wait to tell us how terrible things are. The Economist even outright lied and said that Oklahoma had cut general state funds for education by 28 percent.
Their key narrative is less than half-truths about the state budget and State Question 640. “Oklahoma can’t have nice things because it’s impossible to raise revenue,” they imply.
Despite the fallacies, 640 doesn’t make it nearly impossible for Oklahoma to raise taxes. It does protect taxpayers from the first instinct of some lawmakers: to raise taxes on Oklahomans with reckless abandon. The truth is the Legislature has increased taxes on more than one occasion since 640 was put in the books.
Read the rest over on The Journal Record.
Jonathan Small
President
Jonathan Small, C.P.A., serves as President and joined the staff in December of 2010. Previously, Jonathan served as a budget analyst for the Oklahoma Office of State Finance, as a fiscal policy analyst and research analyst for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and as director of government affairs for the Oklahoma Insurance Department. Small’s work includes co-authoring “Economics 101” with Dr. Arthur Laffer and Dr. Wayne Winegarden, and his policy expertise has been referenced by The Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, National Review, the L.A. Times, The Hill, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. His weekly column “Free Market Friday” is published by the Journal Record and syndicated in 27 markets. A recipient of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s prestigious Private Sector Member of the Year award, Small is nationally recognized for his work to promote free markets, limited government and innovative public policy reforms. Jonathan holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Central Oklahoma and is a Certified Public Accountant.