Fallin: tax increases still needed despite revenue growth

Governor Mary Fallin Statement on Oklahoma Board of Equalization Findings

OKLAHOMA CITY – Governor Mary Fallin today issued the following statement after the Board of Equalization meeting:

“I’m glad to see today’s estimate submitted to the Board of Equalization and acted on the board shows some revenue growth for the 2019 fiscal year. Even with that revenue growth, there still will be a need for additional revenue to address the combination of one-time funds currently in the budget, the current fiscal year shortfall from the loss of cigarette fee revenue of about $110 million, spending obligations as of today for the 2019 fiscal year of approximately $148 million, and money to give our teachers and state employees a much-needed pay raise. These items taken together will be hundreds of millions of dollars. While there is good news generally from this report, we still have a lot of hard work and tough decisions ahead of us.

“I believe we still have a great opportunity to accomplish something historic. We are operating in a very volatile political environment nationally as well as in our own state. It would be an incredible statement to the public that Republicans and Democrats can work together to solve problems.”