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By Charles M. Phipps on October 25th, 2018 
Oklahomans will be voting on five state questions in a couple of weeks. Here are the questions and my take on each.
State Question 793 – Right of Optometrists and Opticians to Practice in Retail Establishments Initiative
This measure adds a new Section 3 to Article 20 of the Oklahoma Constitution. Under the new Section, no law shall infringe on optometrists’ or opticians’ ability to practice within a retail mercantile establishment, discriminate against optometrists or opticians based on the location of their practice, or require external entrances for optometric offices within retail mercantile establishments. No law shall infringe on retail mercantile establishments’ ability to sell prescription optical goods and services. The Section allows the Legislature to restrict optometrists from performing surgeries within retail mercantile establishments, limit the number of locations at which an optometrist may practice, maintain optometric licensing requirements, require optometric offices to be in a separate room of a retail mercantile establishment, and impose health and safety standards. […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on February 5th, 2018 
‘Do you prefer tax-and-spend liberals, tax-and-spend conservatives, or tax-and-spend moderates?’
What’s the point in voting for Republicans to run the Oklahoma government? If you’d told me a few years ago that the GOP-controlled legislature would have a ‘meh’ attitude about out-of-control spending in our state agencies, I would have said you were crazy. If you’d told me a few years ago that our Republican governor would be calling for massive tax increases, I would have said you were crazy. If you’d told me a few years ago that the GOP-controlled legislature would be scheming to pass tax increases at the beginning of the legislative session, I would have said you were crazy.
But here we are, on opening day of the 2018 legislative session, and the Republicans are planning to bring a “quick vote” on tax increases. Of course, they want a quick vote before their constituents get wind of what they’re up to and jam the capitol […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on January 22nd, 2018 
One of my first few blog posts when I started this site was about the city of Baltimore and its soda tax. In an attempt to balance the city budget, the city council passed a two cents per container tax on beverages. Pepsi’s response was to shut down production at the Baltimore plant, putting 75 people out of work. Grocery stores reported sales were down because nearby counties did not have the tax. I learned today that the tax increased to five cents per container in 2013.
Early last year the city of Philadelphia passed something similar, imposing a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sweetened and diet beverages. The tax is imposed at the distributor level but any moron can tell you costs are always passed on to the consumer. The tax amounts to a $1.44 increase on a six-pack of 16-ounce bottles.
In March last year, Pepsi cited the tax when announcing 80 to 100 workers would be laid off […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on August 12th, 2017 
A question from David Van Risseghem on his Facebook page got me thinking. He asked, “Hey? Is the impending special session being called to help folks quit smoking? Or just to get more money?”
Very quick background for those who don’t know – During the last Oklahoma legislative session a bill was passed enacting a $1.50 per pack ‘cessation fee.’ Senate Bill 845, the Smoking Cessation and Prevention Act of 2017, was designed to bring in about $215 million into the state coffers. Earlier this week the state Supreme Court ruled the bill violates the Oklahoma Constitution for various reasons that are completely correct but not relevant to the discussion here.
Now the question is what to do about the $215 million in taxes (note – taxes, not ‘fees’) that the stat will not be receiving, but was included by the legislature in the 2017-2018 budget appropriations. Conventional wisdom seems to be that the governor will call for a special […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on May 17th, 2017 
In every movie and television episode I can think of where the protagonist somehow travels to a parallel universe, one of the chief differences is that those who are good and bad have swapped roles. I’m outing myself as a Trekkie here, but the most notable example I can think of is the original Star Trek series episode, Mirror, Mirror, in which Captain Kirk and others accidentally swap universes with their counterparts. Kirk suddenly finds that the Federation is a conquering empire and his ship, the Enterprise, is a battleship sent on a mission of domination and murder.
I haven’t yet worked out the science of it how it happened but I think I may have been transported to a parallel universe.
For weeks now the news from the Oklahoma state capitol building has been proposal after proposal to increase ‘revenues’ by various methods. Let’s pause for a moment here and dispel the euphemism, ‘revenues,’ and call it by its […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on January 20th, 2017 
Last year I wrote a post about a payday loan bill that Senator David Holt submitted and later pulled in which I agreed with him about the concepts of the free market and that government should not be in the business of saving people from their own bad decisions. Senator Holt sent me a message on Twitter thanking me for my remarks and saying he appreciates someone willing to state limited government principles. He also said that “Someday I’ll do something you don’t like.”
We’re there.
Yesterday, Senator Holt took to Facebook to announce his proposed bills that would give Oklahoma teachers a $10,000 pay raise. Senate Bill 316 would provide the raise and Holt introduced twelve separate measures to provide the funding. One of these measures, Senate Bill 331, increases taxes. To be fair to Senator Holt, SB331 is not an increase in tax rates but a removal of sales tax exemptions. But the net result is Oklahomans will […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on October 27th, 2016
Here is a summary of the State Questions on the Oklahoma ballot and my brief take on each.
BALLOT TITLE FOR STATE QUESTION NO. 776
This measure adds a new section to the Oklahoma Constitution, Section 9A of Article 2. The new Section deals with the death penalty. The Section establishes State constitutional mandates relating to the death penalty and methods of execution. Under these constitutional requirements:
The Legislature is expressly empowered to designate any method of execution not prohibited by the United States Constitution. Death sentences shall not be reduced because a method of execution is ruled to be invalid. When an execution method is declared invalid, the death penalty imposed shall remain in force until it can be carried out using any valid execution method, and The imposition of a death penalty under Oklahoma law —as distinguished from a method of execution—shall not be deemed to be or constitute the infliction of cruel or unusual punishment […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on April 14th, 2015 
If you live in Oklahoma, congratulations, you have made it to Tax Freedom Day! From January 1st until today, every penny you have made goes toward your federal, state and local taxes. This year’s Tax Freedom Day in Oklahoma comes three days later than last year. Americans will pay approximately $3.3 trillion to the federal government this year and an additional $1.5 trillion to state and local governments. I’m sure every penny of our tax dollars will be spent wisely and not wasted.
If you do not live in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, California, Massachusetts or Maryland, be glad. Tax Freedom Day in those states doesn’t come until May. The state to have the earliest Tax Freedom Day is Louisiana on April 2nd, but they’re also three days later than last year.
The Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C. has more analysis on their website and some interesting historical facts about Tax Freedom Day.
[…] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on January 29th, 2015 
If you’re a stay-at-home parent the New York Times thinks you’re a tax cheat. Makes perfect sense, right? You don’t have a job, yet somehow you’re robbing the government of tax revenue. Josh Barro wrote a piece for the Times that details just how it is he thinks you’re getting an unfair advantage.
New York Times – President Obama’s proposal to expand a tax break for working parents with children under 5 has some conservatives criticizing it for discriminating against stay-at-home parents.
Those parents wouldn’t be able to take the proposed tax credit equal to 50 percent of child care expenses, up to a maximum of $3,000 per child. What the critics fail to see is that the playing field wasn’t level to begin with. The tax code is already hugely distorted in favor of stay-at-home parenting: Labor outside the home is taxed; household work, such as stay-at-home parenting, is not.
Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on August 26th, 2014 
Yesterday, Burger King agreed to buy the Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons for about $11.4 billion, creating one of the largest fast-food corporations in the world. As part of the deal, Burger King will move its home up north to Canada where corporate taxes are significantly lower than the United States. Under current U.S. law, a company merging with a foreign company can move its headquarters abroad and take advantage of lower taxes, as long as at least twenty percent of its shares are held by the foreign company’s shareholders once the merger is complete. Management and operations of the merging company are still allowed to remain in the U.S. after the merger.
The news has angered some Democrats, who complain that corporate inversions should not be allowed. Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) has proposed that Congress pass inversion legislation to prevent corporations from moving abroad. He said, “The reported deal with Burger King, an American company, highlights the need for […] → Keep reading
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