Oklahoma state Auditor Gary Jones has a plan to do something about Oklahoma’s budget problems and it revolves around the number ‘5’.
He’s proposing a 5% gross production tax on oil and gas……and on wind production. And he says it’s time there was a moratorium tax credits made by the state.
“We need to correct a taxing inequity while stabilizing revenue streams,” said Jones. “This proposal makes sense, it helps reduce some of the uncertainty the legislature faces each year, and it should even be sufficient to fund the teacher pay raise.”
He knows his plan is opposed by the wind industry but says the state has invested so much in wind farms and Oklahoma should be getting a return.
“Plus there is so much of the electricity going out of state,” said Jones in an interview with OK Energy Today.
He thinks his 5% plan on oil and gas might settle the dispute between horizontal well operators who pay 2% the first three years of production and vertical well operators who are paying 7% gross production tax.
Jones says the State Tax Commission has figured his 5% plan would raise an estimated $223 million a year in revenue.
“This plan sets forth that stability necessary for lawmakers to engage in long-term planning instead of crisis budgeting,” he added.
Listen to Jerry Bohnen’s interview of Gary Jones.