Before you tune into Sunday’s game (and aborted-fetus commercials), catch up on the news of the week.
- Oklahoma is leading the charge to repeal state income taxes—an effort popular among Republican candidates and lawmakers this legislative season. Gov. Mary Fallin, fellow Oklahoma Republicans, and other conservatives contend that eliminating income taxes will attract corporations to the state; allow it to compete with Texas, which has no state income tax but levies significant property taxes; and “boost the size of Oklahoma’s economy by more than 20 percent, and create an additional 312,000 jobs over the next decade.” Detractors say the state couldn’t provide basic services without one-third of its revenue, which the state income tax provides, and that the tax credits and services cut to make up the difference would hurt Oklahomans—especially poor and middle-class Oklahomans—more than it would help them. According to an Associated Press story published by CBS News: “Although the personal income tax does not apply to corporate earnings, supporters say company executives and employees will prefer to live in a state that doesn’t tax personal income… As one way to compensate for the lost revenue, the Oklahoma governor and others have suggested eliminating other kinds of tax breaks and incentives, specifically transferrable tax credits offered to certain businesses. But that would still fall woefully short in Oklahoma, where the income tax provides more than one-third of all state spending.”
- At a recent AP-sponsored legislative forum, Fallin said she’d unveil “a bold and history-making tax plan” that would “simplify the state’s tax code and bring tax cuts for most Oklahomans” at Monday’s State of the State address. According to The Oklahoman, Fallin said: “I do not want to hurt the poor. I understand there are Oklahomans that are struggling, and we have addressed that in our tax plan… My goal is to protect the poor, also to help the middle class.”
- Mother Jones published a study today revealing that, in most states, the poorest citizens pay more of their incomes in taxes than do the richest. “The Corporation for Enterprise Development recently released a scorecard for all 50 states, and it has boatloads of useful information,” Kevin Drum reported. “That includes overall tax rates, where CFED’s number crunchers conclude that in the median state (Mississippi, as it turns out) the poorest 20 percent pay twice the tax rate of the top 1 percent. In the worst states, the poorest 20 percent pay five to six times the rate of the richest 1 percent.” In Oklahoma, the poorest 20 percent of the population pay 9.9 percent of their income in taxes, while the richest 1 percent pay 4.8 percent of their income in taxes, for a ratio of 2.1.
- The AP also wrote this week about a seeming Democratic exodus happening in Oklahoma. “With the number of Democratic lawmakers in the Oklahoma Legislature continuing to dwindle, Republican Party leaders are expressing optimism they can extend their already strong majorities in the House and Senate in the fall,” Sean Murphy wrote. Four Democratic Senate members—a quarter of the party’s caucus—have announced plans to retire their seats. “Republicans currently enjoy a 31-15 edge in the Senate, with two seats vacant, and a 68-31 advantage in the House, with two vacant seats,” the AP reported, but the remaining Democrats are “not ready to concede becoming an endangered species at the state Capitol.”
- Employees at American Airlines got news this week that “2,100 employees would likely be laid off at the city’s maintenance hub,” according to the Associated Press. The company, which is the largest private employer in Tulsa, will lay off 13,000 of its 88,000 employees nationwide, and “city experts estimated that if all 2,100 jobs were eliminated, the city would lose $300 million annually, including about $5 million in county and sales tax revenue.” The Transport Workers Union is hoping to keep those jobs in Tulsa by asking residents to sign a petition at www.isupportamericanjobs.com. The layoffs come after a Nov. 29 bankruptcy filing, which helped land it in the No. 2 spot on 24/7 Wall St.’s list of “The 10 Most Hated Companies in America.” From 24/7 Wall St.:
American’s parent, AMR, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2011. That virtually wiped out the value of the holdings of every shareholder. American recently was picked as the worst airline for customer service by the annual Middle Seat scorecard, published in the Wall Street Journal. “For the past five years, American has been among the worst three airlines at on-time performance, a key measure of an airline’s operation since it impacts mishandled bags, bumped passengers and even canceled flights and customer complaints,” the survey’s authors said. The report states that the airline was the worst among major carriers last year for baggage handling and canceled flights, canceling 70% more flights than United (NYSE: UAL) and Delta (NYSE: DAL). With a score of 63 in the American Customer Satisfaction Index section on airlines, American falls near the bottom, well below leader Southwest (NYSE: LUV), which has a score of 81.
- NPR’s StateImpact Oklahoma released another compelling report on another poverty-stricken place in Oklahoma. “Okfuskee County is home to what was once the largest all-black community in the country and legendary Dust Bowl-era folk singer Woody Guthrie. It also has the highest poverty rate in Oklahoma,” Logan Layden wrote. “Decades after Guthrie recorded his songs about the struggles of the working man, hard times continue in Okfuskee County.” Like Choctaw County, Okfuskee is another place residents consider close-knit and community-oriented, but a struggling economy and lack of work is causing its population to dwindle.
- The state attorney general’s office is investigating the payday lending habits of two Oklahoma tribes—the Modoc and the Miami, The Oklahoman reported this week. “In 2010, payday lenders in the state generated fees of $51.6 million on nearly $400 million in loans, according to an annual report on the Oklahoma Department of Consumer Credit’s website,” Andrew Knittle wrote. State Sen. Rick Brinkley, who’s also a Better Business Bureau executive, is also involved in the investigation. As This Land reported in an earlier Roundup, Brinkley contacted the New Baptist Covenant to lend his support after the organization announced it would spend the year combatting high-interest payday loans. The two tribes under scrutiny are providing loans through Ameriloan, owned by racecar driver Scott Tucker, who’s been accused of partnering with sovereign nations to avoid being sued.
- A new book hit shelves this week, co-authored by a former Oklahoman, based on the Twitter feed @WhiteGirlProblems, which has, “for the last two years, been a source of pithy meditations on being rich, jaded, and extremely bored,” The Daily Beast reported. “The account, which came to life in March 2010, now has almost 700,000 followers and has developed into a household name.” The feed features the musings of Babe Walker, “a fictionalized rich girl who personifies the Twitter account’s unique combination of apathy and total excess.” Behind Babe are “Tanner Cohen, a 25-year-old actor who lives in Brooklyn and wears one hand painted with gray nail polish; David Oliver Cohen, his 31-year-old brother, who is married with a kid; and Lara Schoenhals, 27, a former production assistant from Oklahoma City.” The three authored a paperback version of White Girl Problems, which was released this week.
—Holly Wall, News Editor
