Oklahoma Governor Reflects on Some Key Issues in 2024, Looks Ahead to 2025

Gov. Stitt (AP)

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — From business in Oklahoma to the grocery tax cut, Governor Kevin Stitt is sharing his response to some key issues in our state, and how he plans to address them moving forward.

Governor Stitt reflected with Fox 25 on some situations that may not be going according to plan, though he said that won’t change his values or approach heading into 2025.

He had several goals in 2024, like electric vehicle company Canoo being successful in the Sooner State.

But on Wednesday, December 18, the startup business announced furloughs and that they’ve paused operations in the state.

Governor Stitt says he wouldn’t do anything differently, in terms of drawing Canoo to Oklahoma.

“I don’t think so,” Governor Stitt said. “I mean, we’re always swinging for the fences, going for big projects. I talked to the CEO, and I think they’ve got some employees in Pryor that they’re leaving. They’re trying to close another round of funding. So hopefully that works, and their intent is to bring their employees back. People don’t realize [that] starting a brand new EV car company is a difficult task. We hope they bring them back.”

In February, he signed a historic bill eliminating the statewide grocery tax.

10 months later, there’s confusion surrounding how it works. Some businesses are reportedly remitting their taxes incorrectly, and not charging the local municipal sales tax. This is costing cities like Norman and Oklahoma City a lot of money.

“The grocery tax was there to help individuals that are struggling with groceries, so we are one of only 12 states that tax groceries. All we eliminated was the state portion of the grocery tax, not the municipal portion. I’m for lower taxes, so [those businesses] have to tighten their belt. They’ll have to be more efficient with their services. I’m always going to stand for taxpayers paying less taxes to the government, whether it’s municipal taxes or state taxes.”

Governor Stitt says he’s entering the fourth quarter of his career at the Capitol in 2025, and on his agenda is tax cuts.

“Obviously, business taxes. The tax on tips. There’s a lot of things that we would love to do. My question for lawmakers is: how big should government be? Trying to hold down the spending in state government is something I’ve been advocating for when I ran for governor in 2018.”

Governor Stitt says he’s really looking forward to this next legislative session, and working with newly elected lawmakers.

Watch Fox 25’s full conversation with Governor Stitt below: