Gov. Fallin is Planning to Attack the Income Tax

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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Gov. Mary Fallin, shown here at an energy summit in Washington, D.C., supports the reduction and eventual elimination of the Oklahoma's personal income tax.

Gov. Mary Fallin is hard at work on a plan to reduce Oklahoma’s personal income tax.

Oklahoman reporter Michael McNutt writes that Fallin’s plan, which relies heavily on a report from a task force she assembled earlier this year, will be in place before the start of the next legislative session in February.

Members of the Task Force on Economic Development and Job Creation proposed a 10-year plan that reduces and ultimately eliminates Oklahoma’s individual income tax, the largest single source of state tax revenue.

The report suggests several ways to make up for the lost revenue, like removing certain tax credits and exemptions.

“ … including some that benefit low- and moderate-income families, such as the state child care and child tax credit, low-income property tax credit, sales tax relief credit and the state earned income credit,” The Oklahoman reported.

Other task force suggestions: Cut state government spending by $243.3 million each year for 10 years, a 4 percent tax on various services and the creation of a state property tax, The Oklahoman reported.