Senate Finance Committee Approves Measure to Remove Income Tax Reduction Trigger

The Senate Finance Committee has approved legislation to remove the statutory trigger required to reduce the state’s income tax from 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent, clearing the way for that reduction to take place in tax year 2010. Finance chairman Senator Mike Mazzei is the author of Senate Bill 315 which was approved on Tuesday.

“One of the reasons Oklahoma’s economy is doing better than others is the focus we’ve had on tax relief during the past several sessions,” said Mazzei, R-Tulsa. “We believe it’s important in the Senate to keep focusing on our goal to get the income tax lower.”

SB 315 would remove the existing trigger which requires four percent growth in the General Revenue Fund plus the cost of increases in the standard deduction before the income tax rate can drop from 5.5 to 5.25 percent.

Mazzei is optimistic the measure will win approval when it next moves to the full Senate for consideration.

“Economies expand when hard-working Oklahomans are able to keep more of what they earn,” Mazzei said. “Certainly, in the end we must consider how all proposals will fit together as we work to create a balanced budget, but it is important that we keep this reduction on the table as we move through the process.”