We all want our kids and grandkids to have great opportunities that come from growth and prosperity.  We’ve made some important progress, but in the financial world of national competition, we are still behind the leaders.  Oklahoma ranks 8th in highest poverty rate.  The income level for the average worker in Oklahoma is still 11% below the national average, and our economic and population growth aren’t remotely close to that of the national leaders like Texas, Tennessee, and even the cold and rainy state of Washington! My solutions include:

 

• To become an economic powerhouse, Oklahoma must first become a no-income-tax state. Just look at the top 5 states taking in the companies escaping the iron fist of California. Four of them have no personal income tax – Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Nevada. Arizona may still have an income tax, but it’s flattened down to 2.5%.

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• To accomplish a no-income-tax code, we have to start thinking more about the taxpayers and less about the political establishment. They shouldn’t get rich off our hard-working taxpayers.  Wind developers received over $1.5 billion in special benefits, while Oklahomans got about 350 permanent jobs – thousands less than promised.  State leaders just dumped over $1 billion of debt on the taxpayers to bail out utility companies from the extra costs of the 2021 winter blast.  Some private natural gas suppliers (NOT THE PRODUCERS) made out like bandits with over 1,000% profits from their price gouging! Cutting wasteful corporate welfare would put billions back in the pockets of taxpayers.

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• We must take advantage of our stellar vo-tech system and create a scholarship program for high-demand skilled labor jobs. Higher education is failing thousands of kids a year and it’s time we start preparing the next generation for the jobs of tomorrow instead of pushing them into a college degree with no jobs waiting on the other side.

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• We must reshape our approach to chasing jobs and stop chasing the mega deals with foreign companies that cost more than they are worth. We will propose an innovative campaign to partner with existing Oklahoma-based businesses that are the lifeblood of our economy. We want to offer grants to 10,000 small businesses that create five new jobs that pay at least 10% more than the average income.  Instead of giving hundreds of billions to foreign green energy companies that may not produce any stable jobs for Oklahoma’s economy, let’s work with 10,000 companies to grow a total of 50,000 jobs!