First Day Of Special Session Ends Early With Little Progress Toward Tax Cut

It was a quick conversation in both the House and Senate, they gaveled in and out in less than 10 minutes.

Monday, January 29th 2024, 5:42 pm

By: Haley Weger

OKLAHOMA CITY -

At the Capitol: lawmakers came in for a special session on tax cuts and left almost as quickly. Legislators in the House and Senate spent less than 10 minutes on the floor, a move that costs about $35,000.

The house started the three-day process of passing a bill that would cut the personal income tax to 4.5%, which is exactly what Governor Stitt called for in this special session.

State representatives will come back to the capitol Tuesday for a second bill reading, and one final time Wednesday to pass the bill over to the senate.

But, the senate says they are not ready to cut taxes this week, adjourning at the call of the chair, meaning they can come back at any point if they come to an agreement with the state house. “The governor's call for a special session we still believe was a waste of taxpayer dollars and resources especially because we start one week from today in the regular session,” said Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat. “We have for a long time told them we want to know the real numbers. February 15th we will get the real numbers,” said Treat.

The state house says the Senate has waited long enough and wants to pass the tax cut before the session starts. “The citizens are sick of excuses. With $4.5 billion in savings there is no reason not to give something back to the citizens of Oklahoma,” said Majority Floor Leader, Jon Echols.

“The Senate has said they didn't have all the figures, they didn't have all the numbers, they needed more time 3 years ago when we first started asking for tax cuts. We are now three years down the road and the senate is still saying they don’t have the numbers, the people in the state of Oklahoma are out of time,” said Echols.

Each day lawmakers come in for a special session costs about $35,000 out of the taxpayer-funded budget. Lawmakers expect this tax cut to save the average Oklahoman about 10 cents a day or about $110 a year.

This conversation is likely to continue into the regular session which starts a week from today.