After a stern editorial scolding from The New York Timeslast week regarding its staggering budget crisis, Oklahoma appeared in the pages of The Economistthis week. The British publication noted that, 98% of Oklahomans support pay raises for public school teachers. Yet the state legislature has consistently failed to deliver.
That’s because state officials have a deep ideological opposition to raising taxes. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Oklahoma City are so beholden to special interests in the oil and wind industries that cutting tax breaks for these industries would upset a lot of powerful people. So, while lawmakers sit on their hands, the citizens have taken matters upon themselves. A bipartisan group has asked the legislature add a penny per dollar to state sales taxes. The money would go to increase education funding.
The initiative is the equivalent of voters telling lawmakers that they aren’t doing their jobs.