{"id":4194,"date":"2012-02-01T15:37:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T21:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=4194"},"modified":"2012-02-01T15:37:55","modified_gmt":"2012-02-01T21:37:55","slug":"roadshow-reaction-in-stillwater-im-concerned-about-poor-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/02\/01\/roadshow-reaction-in-stillwater-im-concerned-about-poor-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Roadshow Reaction in Stillwater: \u2018I\u2019m Concerned About Poor People\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Johnson \/ KGOU<\/p>\n

An audience member takes his turn at the mic to ask lawmakers about the state income tax and sales tax on groceries.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Our State Budget Roadshow wrapped up last night in Stillwater with a packed crowd, pointed policy questions \u2014 and pizza.<\/p>

It was a full house, and the discussion was almost entirely led by the audience, which came chambered with questions about the income tax, the miserable condition of some state-owned buildings, and how the state budget affects life in rural Oklahoma<\/a>.<\/p>

<\/p>

The income tax<\/a> is a hot topic in Oklahoma, and the Stillwater audience \u2014 as it was in Tulsa<\/a> and Oklahoma City<\/a> \u2014 was eager to weigh-in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Johnson \/ KGOU<\/p>\n

(from left) Agriculture Economist Dave Shideler, Rep. Cory T. Williams, D-Stillwater, and Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater, paneled a discussion on Oklahoma's state budget and economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>

A retired state health department employee said she\u2019s tired of the \u201cconstant rhetoric\u201d that cutting taxes leads to an increase in business spending.<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019ve been hearing that for a long time, and that doesn\u2019t work,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m concerned about poor people. I don\u2019t want to cut services to the poor. I don\u2019t think this is the time.\u201d<\/p>

The Stillwater event, which was co-hosted by KOSU<\/a>, had three panelists. One, Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater, addressed concerns about the income tax.<\/p>

From<\/a> Stillwater NewsPress<\/em> reporter Ricky O\u2019Bannon:<\/p>\n

Halligan has said any move to step down that tax has to be revenue neutral, and he repeated that argument Tuesday \u2026 A task force examined various tax credits since the last session and has recommended a moratorium on all the credits to allow lawmakers to alter or eliminate some credits. But Halligan said that will be a difficult process.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ NPR StateImpact<\/p>\n

Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater, talks with audience members after a state budget forum in Stillwater.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Another panelist, Rep. Cory T. Williams, D-Stillwater, said he\u2019s against eliminating the income tax entirely. He would, however, support an income tax reduction if enough revenue is added by eliminating ineffective tax credits.<\/p>

Williams suggested \u2014 as did<\/a> economist Mickey Hepner at the OKC event \u2014 \u00a0that programs that improve \u201cquality of life\u201d are worth investing in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jim Johnson \/ KGOU<\/p>\n

Rep. Cory T. Williams, D-Stillwater,<\/p>\n<\/div>

Agriculture Economist Dave Shideler, our third panelist, said there aren\u2019t many tax policy discussions in rural Oklahoma.<\/p>

From the The Daily O\u2019Collegian<\/em>\u2019s Meagan Kascsak<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“When I go out to communities and work with them, what I hear is that we need jobs for our young people,” Shideler said. “We need opportunities to help them establish a lifestyle so that they can stay here and that this community will be here in 40 or 50 years.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our State Budget Roadshow wrapped up last night in Stillwater with a packed crowd, pointed policy questions \u2014 and pizza.It was a full house, and the discussion was almost entirely led by the audience, which came chambered with questions about the income tax, the miserable condition of some state-owned buildings, and how the state budget […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":4199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[274,291,292,290],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4194"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4212,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4194\/revisions\/4212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}