OK House Democrats call for grocery tax cuts, GOP highlights relief funding
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — Democrats in the Oklahoma House of Representatives are calling for grocery tax relief after such proposals failed to make it into this year's state budget.
The House sent over the budget to the governor on Friday.
Bills to roll back the tax passed both chambers easily with bipartisan support. However, little short of a budget veto from Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-Oklahoma) could get the tax cut back on the table.
Republicans are saying there just was not enough money to go around this time for the tax cut. Democrats are taking issue with that.
According to Rep. Andy Fugate (D-Oklahoma City), economic hardship is hitting Oklahomans hard, and "We had an opportunity by eliminating the state's portion of the sales tax to help a little bit with the pain, but we [the legislature] chose to not do that."
He further explained that, "The governor certainly could do some things with a veto pen that might allow us to come back and do a grocery sales tax exemption. I suspect that won't happen."
The bills that rolled back grocery taxes were rewritten to give the legislature greater control over COVID-19 relief dollars on Wednesday.
Rep. Kevin McDugle (R-Broken Arrow) wants to see the cuts at some point in the future. "I had the bill this year that would get rid of the grocery tax. However, when you take a look at the whole budget, we don't know that'd we able to sustain that for a long period of time."
Democrats argue that if the state can set aside approximately$700 million to lure a major manufacturer to Oklahoma in a proposal called "Project Ocean," it could have passed grocery tax relief.
Republicans are pushing back.
Rep. McDugle is defending that effort, asserting that, "When you look at Project Ocean and the amount of tax revenue it's going to bring to the state, it's things like that that might actually allow us to get rid of a grocery tax at some point."
While grocery tax relief bills passed both chambers, Rep. Fugate says the Senate is now standing in the way.
According to the Democrat, "It takes both chambers in this legislature to do something like eliminating the sales tax on groceries, and unfortunately one of the two bodies was not interested in doing that. And it wasn't the House."
Rep. McDugle is highlighting relief efforts that are included in the budget. "I know it's tough. Especially with the economy the way it is on a national scale right now, with inflation the way that is is. They are going to get some relief, even though it's minor. I was wanting a little bit larger number."
Single Oklahomans can expect $75 payouts in December, while couples are set to get $150.
It is up to the governor to approve or veto the budget sent his way. He has until midnight on May 26 to decide.
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