Letter to Editor: Vote No on SQ779

Vote No on State Question 779

(originally printed in the Muskogee Phoenix)

Education funding should be a top concern for Oklahomans, but the one cent statewide sales tax proposed by State Question 779 is not the way to do it. Oklahoma already has one of the highest sales tax in the nation and this extra cent would make us the highest. At a time when local retailers are hurting to compete with tax-free online competition, this tax hike will push even more consumers away from shopping locally.

There would be further negative impacts on our city and county governments who get a majority of their revenues from sales tax. If 779 passes our sales tax would be hiked to over 10 percent statewide on July 1, 2017 and from that date on it will become very difficult for cities and counties to pass sales tax bonds. A quarter of a cent bond issues to improve city streets or public services that may have seemed affordable to voters in the past, would now become very difficult to pass.

Please vote no on 779 because of the damage to our local economy and the future negative effects on city and county governments.

Martin Updike (Fort Gibson)