Oklahoma Legislature stumbles in search for new revenues

Oklahoma Legislature stumbles in search for new revenues
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma Legislature faces political gridlock as lawmakers balk at legislation to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue and close an $878 million hole in next year’s budget to avoid catastrophic cuts to state agencies and services.
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin has called for a “major overhaul” of the state’s tax system and says she is willing to veto any budget that does not include new revenue for the fiscal year that begins on July 1.
So far, lawmakers have supported adjusting the state income tax standard deduction and attaching fees to tickets to professional sporting events to raise relatively small amounts of revenue.
Fallin has chided them for failure to act on major legislation to increase the state fuel and cigarette taxes – proposals she supports.