Twenty-two million jobs were created during that time under reasonable fiscal policies that did not require a single increase in the national debt ceiling while also balancing the budget and actually resulting in a budgetary surplus.

The Clinton fiscal policies, if left in place, would have eliminated the national debt in 2009. The Bush administration tax reductions and eight years of "borrow and spend" fiscal policies — including two wars fought on credit and large increases in security-related spending — produced only 7 million new government and private-sector jobs, while requiring eight increases in the national debt ceiling to enable this nation to meet its obligations and bail out the Wall Street financial giants.

Fiscal responsibility was not a goal or practice of the national GOP during the Bush administration and the results were a major disaster for this nation.

State Republicans should not make the same mistakes. Elimination of the state income tax in the face of a need for that revenue to repair the Capitol and perform infrastructure work on roads and bridges, while maintaining a reasonable level of other governmental services, would be a serious move in the wrong direction.

As a fiscal conservative, I know that "pay as you go" costs much less than "borrow and spend.” In lieu of bond issues and other borrowing, our governor should pursue "least cost" accomplishment of socially needed and "business friendly" activities.

Reductions in, and the eventual elimination of, the state's income tax is fiscal folly in the face of the economic realities. We need the revenue.

—Robert D. Allen
Oklahoma City

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