Photo by: Abby Bellow
Proposed tax cuts in Oklahoma are stirring up controversy from opponents who claim the cuts could take away funding from vital areas such as education.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren ran an ad last week claiming the cuts would “hurt” higher education. He said in the 1970s the university received 50 percent state funding. Since then that funding has been reduced to about 15 percent, partially causing higher education costs to rise within the state.
“The doors of opportunity to go on to college are being closed for many deserving students,” Boren said in an opinion article published in Tulsa World. “As states do less and less to finance higher education, the U.S. has fallen from first place in the world to 14th in a little over 10 years in the percentage of the college age group going on to higher education.”
Senior David Lopez said that the controversy is because people are trying to find the middle ground.
“Do we give more money back to the people or do we get rid of it? I guess some people are just thinking, ‘Well we don’t have enough money to cut that much,’ or people are saying, ‘We can get rid of this stuff,’” Lopez said. “It sounds like the people who are worried are professional scholars within universities.
Lopez clarified what Boren had against Fallin’s proposal.
“They were saying how it was a big mistake, and cutting some things that you can’t really afford to cut,” Lopez said. “Whatever the cuts come from, whether it’s education, there are people that are going to be concerned.”
Senior Matthew Jennings did not agree with the tax reduction.
“I do not believe it is in the state’s best interests to lower the taxes,” Jennings said. “It is going to cause more economic harm than good in the sense that it is going to cause vital cuts to universities and other vital services. I suspect that this will also cause problems for fire departments and emergency services and a lot of other things.”
Jennings echoed Boren’s sentiments.
“I believe that it will cause more financial harm than good, and [Boren] specifically stated that it is going to cause problems, making it harder for students to graduate from high school to attend universities,” Jennings said. “I agree with this – right now what we need is more opportunities for disintellectual development and improvement for all economic turns.”
Jennings anticipated that this will affect Oklahoma Christian University as well.
“I believe as a student of OC, given that we are a private university and don’t receive a whole lot of funding from the state, the effect on us will be minimal, but I do think that it will be a negative effect overall,” Jennings said. “I believe this will cause problems overall and that it will, again, cause problems for higher education, emergency services and other more critical things.
Jennings’ concern is that the tax reduction could potentially cause a ripple effect.
“Oklahoma has one of the most stable economies in the nation, and if we start having problems then goodness knows what that might begin to affect,” Jennings said.
Professor of Business Kimberly Merritt agreed with the tax cuts, but said she understands why people are concerned.
“A lot of what we’re hearing in the news are people reacting to the fact that we will probably meet in the very short-run, lower-state revenue,” Merritt said. “There may be higher state revenues over time, but lower state revenues in the short run, and so everyone’s concerned about the current level of funding.”
Merritt made the point that Oklahoma has to pay for what it needs somehow.
“We’re hearing things from the state legislature that says they’re going to cut higher funding for the state schools,” Merritt said. “We hear constantly that teachers are the lowest paid in the nation. We hear concerns about state deposits and about repairs needed at the state Capitol – all of those things need to be funded somehow, so the plan to reduce tax rates is good for Oklahoma in the long run, but in the short run we’re going to have to put that policy in place and let it happen.”
Merritt emphasized that that the reduction will bring in new businesses.
“If we reduce our tax rates this will be good for Oklahoma,” Merritt said. “We’re going to bring in new companies and we’re going to have more hiring for jobs and we’re going to create new jobs. We’re going to have a higher revenue, but it’s not going to happen immediately.”
Merrit believes Oklahoma Christian graduates could benefit by staying in state.
“This means that they will keep more of their dollars in their pockets, under their control and they can decide how to spend that,” Merritt said. “So lower tax rates … means more job opportunities in Oklahoma, it’s going to mean a more prosperous state overall, but it’s going to take some time.”
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