{"id":5176,"date":"2012-03-13T11:01:15","date_gmt":"2012-03-13T16:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=5176"},"modified":"2012-12-20T10:05:53","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:05:53","slug":"rural-doctor-training-program-one-of-853-million-ways-to-pay-for-an-income-tax-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/03\/13\/rural-doctor-training-program-one-of-853-million-ways-to-pay-for-an-income-tax-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural Doctor Training Program One of $853 Million Ways to Pay for an Income Tax Cut"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Logan Layden \/ NPR StateImpact<\/p>\n

Russell Kohl, a family practice doctor in Vinita, received about $40,000 in state subsidies while he was in medical school. Some lawmakers have proposed un-appropriating the program, which incentivises rural doctors, to help pay for cutting the personal income tax.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Cutting Oklahoma\u2019s income tax means cutting into the single largest source of state tax revenue.<\/p>

Many of these income tax-reduction plans count on the expectation that other tax revenues \u2014 like the sales tax \u2014 will increase as Oklahoma\u2019s economy prospers under a reduced income tax.<\/p>

But spending cuts are a big piece of the pie, and the backers of one phase-out plan have issued a list of what should be axed, including a state commission to increase the number of doctors practicing in rural Oklahoma.<\/p>

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Oklahoma is short on rural doctors<\/a>, and the Physician Manpower Training Commission is one of few agencies Gov. Mary Fallin wants to give more money to.<\/p>

Despite a mostly flat<\/a> 2013 budget proposal, Fallin and her administration have proposed<\/a> giving the commission more than $3 million to establish 40 new residency programs to train physicians in rural parts of the\u00a0state.<\/p>

The commission is one of several that could be non-appropriated to help pay for phasing out the personal income tax, some backers of House Bill 3038 proposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a slash-and-burn mentality,\u201d Rep. Tom Newell, R-Seminole, told the Journal Record\u2019s 23rd and Lincoln Blog.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Still, the list of what they’d cut (below) is long.<\/p>\n

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