Republican Runoff: August 25

DONATE

RESPONSIBLE TAX RELIEF FOR ALL 77 COUNTIES

Income, Property, and Sales/Use Taxes | Policy Brief

MY PRINCIPLE: I will cut taxes the honest way: verified recurring revenue, spending discipline, protection for core services, and no tax swap at the cash register.

WHAT I WILL DO

Income taxes:

Lower taxes for every Oklahoman without putting Oklahoma’s future at risk. I support the path to zero state income tax, but every step must be backed by certified recurring revenue—not one-time money, budget gimmicks, or inflated projections. Before any tax cut takes effect, I will require a transparent revenue test, a reserve test, and a review of outdated tax giveaways. If Oklahoma can truly afford it, families deserve to keep more of what they earn. But I will never support tax cuts designed to score political points or create campaign talking points if they jeopardize public safety, education, infrastructure, or other essential services. Conservative leadership means cutting taxes responsibly, keeping our promises, and leaving Oklahoma stronger for the next generation—not creating budget shortfalls that someone else has to clean up. 1, 2, 3, 12

Property taxes:

Stop spikes without starving schools, sheriffs, fire, and roads. I will target relief where pressure is greatest: seniors, veterans, fixed-income homeowners, and families hit by rapid valuation increases. My plan is to strengthen the homestead exemption, require plain-English valuation notices, and strengthen appeal rights. Research supports targeted relief and warns that broad caps can shift benefits to long-time, older, and higher-income owners while leaving newer families exposed. 4, 5, 6

Sales/use taxes:

No backdoor tax increase. Oklahoma already has a 4.5% state sales tax plus local rates. I will not replace visible tax relief with higher hidden taxes on everyday purchases or business inputs. Any sales-tax modernization must be revenue-neutral, lower the rate if the base is broadened, protect necessities, and exempt business inputs that get passed along as higher prices. 7, 8, 9

THE CONTRAST

Mike Mazzei’s approach points to eliminating property tax for himself and select groups in urban counties, leaving seniors in rural Oklahoma with rising costs. Further, he wants to replace the lost local revenue by raising taxes on goods and services. That approach may work better in high-growth, retail-rich urban counties than in rural counties with smaller tax bases and higher per-capita service costs. My standard is simple: all 77 counties. No rural tax swap. No sales-tax shell game. No unfunded promise. No tax increases. 10, 11

BOTTOM LINE

I will cut taxes, protect taxpayers, and keep Oklahoma finances honest:

Lower income taxes when we can afford them; targeted property-tax relief for homeowners who need it most; and a hard no on raising taxes or shifting the burden to sales/ use taxes or rural communities.

1 Gentner Drummond for Governor, Issues. Link Used for: Cost-of-living, property-tax, responsible-tax-cut, core-services, and waste/corporate-giveaway themes. 2 Oklahoma Attorney General, Board of Equalization revenue warning, Feb. 14, 2025. Link Used for: Supports verified recurring revenue, transparency, and protecting education, roads, bridges, and public safety. 3 Oklahoma Senate, HB 2764 tax cut and trigger framework, May 22, 2025. Link Used for: Describes the 4.75% to 4.5% top-rate reduction, bracket consolidation, and revenue-triggered future cuts. 4 Shan, Property Taxes and Elderly Mobility, Journal of Urban Economics, 2010. Link Used for: Peer-reviewed support for targeted senior property-tax relief. 5 Skidmore, Ballard & Hodge, National Tax Journal, 2010. Link Used for: Peer-reviewed caution that broad assessment caps can redistribute benefits toward long-time, older, and higher-income owners. 6 Cleveland County Assessor, Homestead Exemption. Link Used for: Oklahoma example of the standard $1,000 assessed-valuation homestead exemption. 7 Oklahoma Tax Commission, Sales and Use Tax. Link Used for: Oklahoma sales tax is 4.5% plus applicable local rates. 8 Ring, Consumers’ and Producers’ Share of the General Sales Tax, National Tax Journal, 1999. Link Used for: Peer-reviewed evidence that sales taxes often reach producer inputs, creating hidden tax pyramiding. 9 Hendrix & Zodrow, Sales Taxation of Services, Florida State University Law Review, 2003. Link Used for: Academic support for focusing sales-tax modernization on final consumption and avoiding business-input taxation. 10 Mike Mazzei for Governor, The Plan. Link Used for: Supports the cautious contrast: senior/veteran property-tax elimination, ‘taxing activity,’ and local replacement mechanisms. 11 Oklahoma State University Extension, County Finances by Size Groupings. Link Used for: Supports the rural-fairness analysis: county finances differ by size, taxable value, and service costs. 12 Moretti & Wilson, State Taxes and Top Earners, American Economic Review, 2017. Link Used for: Peer-reviewed competitiveness evidence that state tax differentials affect high-skill migration.

  • “Taxing activity instead of ownership or income does much less harm to economic growth. Local voters get to decide if they want to replace lost tax collections.” https://mikeforok.com/the-plan/#propertytax
  • Any county-by-county claim that a tax swap favors named urban counties over named rural counties should be backed by Oklahoma Tax Commission, county treasurer, or county assessor data showing distributional effects.
  • Any revenue target for income-tax phaseout or property-tax replacement should be re-estimated with the latest Board of Equalization certification and OMES/Oklahoma Tax Commission revenue data.