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Communications Division For Immediate
Release: July 16, 2004 State Senator Randy Brogdon, R-Owasso, responded Friday to criticism by the Senate’s Democrat leader that fiscal reforms cannot be enacted in the state without drastic budget cuts. “Senator Hobson’s letter highlights a clash of ideas: liberal vs. conservative. Liberals like Senator Hobson believe that tax dollars belong to the Legislature for the sole purpose of growing the size of government. Conservatives believe that tax dollars belong to the taxpayers and that the Legislature should take great care to prioritize and spend those dollars efficiently,” Brogdon stated. “It is undeniable that Oklahoma’s tax system is archaic and burdensome. For example, Oklahoma’s top income tax rate kicks in for people earning about $10,000 in taxable income. Perhaps Senator Hobson believes incomes of $10,000 should be taxed at the highest rate, but I strongly disagree. Reforming Oklahoma’s tax system is imperative if we want to attract and keep jobs,” he said. “I hope that Senator Hobson is sincere
about wanting to utilize zero-based budgeting and performance-based
audits in the future. So far, Democrat leaders have ignored
the ‘zero-based budgeting’ committee’s
work and have seemed uninterested in finding and eliminating
government waste. The committee hasn’t met since January,
but I am more than willing to spend my summer and fall working
to identify waste in state government. I encourage Senator
Hobson to ask Chairman Morgan to begin holding regular meetings
of the ‘zero-based budgeting’ committee. Let’s
roll up our sleeves and get to work,” Brogdon concluded.
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