Jones playing dealmaker? House Dems join his budget proposal

At a press conference held a short time ago, State Auditor Gary Jones offered his solution to for a teacher and state employee pay raise, flanked by the House Democratic caucus, which endorsed his plan.

Jones' plan has some similarity to the OCPA proposal released on Monday, with the addition of the fuel tax increase. Jones said that this would simplify taxes by making the fuel taxes the same (diesel is currently taxed 3 cents less than gasoline) and the GPT and income tax the same (5%)

House Minority Leader Steve Kouplen (D-Beggs) pledged all 28 Democratic House votes for the plan, while Democrats also added that they'd like to take up the itemized-deduction cap bill that is sitting in the Senate (another ~$100M in more taxes new revenue).