Shadid claims city and Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce officials were not honest with voters before the 2009 MAPS 3 election, particularly with the convention center project and a related convention center hotel. The convention center could cost taxpayers an estimated $250 million, but the hotel would not receive MAPS 3 funding. Voters approved […]
tax
Posted inNews
That’s a lot of money
A new rule increases by 500 percent the amount in meals and other gifts a lobbyist can give to a legislator each year. That comes to $500 per lawmaker. Here’s a little math, so check it twice because we are journalists. There are 149 solons at the state Legislature. If all of them receive the […]
Posted inNews
Taxing debate
House Bill 1875 likely will be heard in the early part of the 2014 legislative session, which begins Feb. 2. The bill is one of four legislative priorities the Oklahoma City Council will push forward next year. The council’s state and federal legislative agendas were approved at the Nov. 5 council meeting. The priorities were […]
Posted inNews
Hmm … more corporate tax breaks?
The Sooner state is at No. 36, which means only 14 other states impose overall tax structures that are more burdensome. The ranking was unchanged from the 2013 report. However, there was good news. Property tax collections averaged $642 per person, the fourth lowest nationally. Meanwhile, the state’s income tax system consists of seven brackets […]
Posted inNews
Hunkered down
Kristi Conatzer said the governor has created an unneeded public debate over keeping children safe based on comments she made opposing an initiative petition. Conatzer’s daughter, Emily, was one of the seven children who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School. “There shouldn’t be an argument over this,” she said. “We lost something on May 20 […]
Posted inNews
United States of shame report
The report rounds up each state’s No. 1s, from highest porn subscription rates (Utah) to highest corporate tax rate (New Hampshire) and even dumbest state (Maine, based on SAT scores). How are our neighbors, you ask? Arkansas had the lowest average credit score with 636. Texas had the lowest high school graduation rate at 78.3 […]
Posted inNews
Uhhhh, might he be right this time?
Worry not! In another striking moment of sanity, U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Muskogee) questioned the legitimacy of assigning nonprofit status to several tax-exempt, profit-making professional sports organizations, including the National Football League, National Hockey League and Professional Golf Association. The NFL? It raked in a cool $9.5 billion in 2012. Ho-hum. Like so many big […]
Posted inNews
‘It’s a fairness issue’
Photo courtesy Tulsa World / Michael Wyke / file Wheels in the suit are again grinding as state and federal laws continue to collide. Recently, all four, with their attorney, Don Holladay, filed paperwork with U.S. District Judge Terence Kern requesting he rule in their favor. They also said the Oklahoma law violates their constitutional […]
Posted inNews
LETTERS
Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact number […]