OKLAHOMA CITY — While University of Oklahoma President David Boren is calling for a moratorium on further state tax cuts, the chairman of the House’s Revenue and Taxation Committee believes Boren’s request is premature.
State Rep. Randy Terrill said he still believes the state’s income tax is too high but wants to gather information from a series of interim studies later this fall before deciding.
“Boren’s call was premature,” Terrill, R-Moore, said. “We haven’t begun our interim studies yet. We want to look at whether or not additional tax relief is needed or necessary and, if so, what type of tax relief is preferable.”
Terrill said Oklahoma must balance tax cuts against the “right set of priorities” and targeted spending increases.
“It’s about respect for taxpayers, too,” he said.
Last week Boren urged lawmakers to sideline future tax reduction proposals and, instead, invest in higher education to create a knowledge-based economy, which he believes will produce long-term benefits in new businesses and good jobs.
“I think we ought to have a moratorium on tax reductions right now,” Boren said. “I think we’re bumping the limits and I think we certainly don’t need to proceed down that path.”
Boren said that when he served as governor 30 years ago, more than 40 percent of OU’s budget came from appropriations by the Legislature, with the balance coming from tuition and fees, grants and contracts, private donations and other sources.
This year, the AP reported, state tax dollars will provide 21.5 percent of the $713 million operating budget for the OU campus in Norman and 7 or 8 percent of the $632 million budget for the OU Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City.
The Norman (Okla.) Transcript
