Working Families Deserve Tax Break, Senate Finance Chair Says

House Republicans, who talk about “family values,” have put at risk a major tax cut that truly values working families, according to the chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

Senator Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, said the Senate Democrats’ HOPE Plan – a permanent $402 million tax cut targeted to working families – could already have been on the governor’s desk if House Republicans had simply approved the measure as is. HOPE stands for “Helping Oklahomans Prosper Economically” and senators passed the bill on March 2.

In a news release from Rep. Kevin Calvey, chair of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, the Senate Democrats’ plan to cut taxes for working families was called a “less direct approach” than House Republicans’ plan.

“At best, that charge is designed to hide a philosophy of giving wealthy Oklahomans a tax break while leaving working families with virtually nothing,” said Gumm. “To me, their plan seems an extraordinarily indirect way of helping those Oklahomans who need it most; in fact, it leaves most Oklahomans little help at all.”

According to a study by the Oklahoma Tax Commission, a family earning $50,000 or less gets the bigger tax cut under the Senate Democrats’ HOPE Plan, while the Republican plan is skewed to give a much larger tax cut to the wealthy and super-wealthy.

For example, a working family with a $50,000 income would see their income tax drop by more than $500 under the Senate Democrats’ plan. That same working family would see less than a $100 per year tax cut from the House Republican plan.

A family with a million-dollar income would get the same $500 tax cut as the working family under the Senate plan. However, the House plan gives that millionaire family a tax cut approximately 42 times greater than the working family would get from House Republicans.

Because of the inequity, Gumm proposed and passed an amendment to the Republican plan in the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday to mirror the working family tax cut the Senate already approved in the HOPE Plan.

“That $500 from the HOPE plan will mean a whole lot more to the family struggling to meet the mortgage and pay the bills than the thousands of dollars the Republicans want to give to the wealthy,” Gumm said. “Their proposal abuses working families to benefit primarily the wealthy and I am not enthusiastic about it at all.”

The Senate Democrats’ HOPE tax cut plan gives 84 percent of Oklahomans 96 percent of tax cuts, permanently reducing the tax burden for working families. In comparison, the lawmaker said, the House Republicans would give the top 15 percent of income earners in Oklahoma two-thirds of the total tax cut.
Gumm concluded by saying the Senate Democrats’ HOPE Plan lifts up working families while the Republican proposal would only further deepen the gap between the rich and the poor.

“I believe we have a moral responsibility to lift up working families,” he said. “The House Republicans may put their faith in the wealthy; as for me, my priority will be to give every Oklahoma family – regardless of the size of their bank account – the opportunity to receive every blessing this state has to offer.”