OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A proposal to slash Oklahoma's personal and corporate income tax and offset the lost revenue by eliminating dozens of tax breaks has cleared the Oklahoma Senate.
The Senate voted 27-16 on Tuesday for the bill by Tulsa Republican Sen. Mike Mazzei, one of four separate proposals to reduce the state's personal income tax being considered by lawmakers this year.
Based on the recommendations of a task force studying ways to overhaul the state tax code, Mazzei's bill proposes the most modest reduction in the personal income tax, from 5.25 percent to 4.75 percent over the next two years. The bill also reduces the corporate income tax from 6 percent to 5.5 percent.
Democrats opposed the bill, arguing many of the tax exemptions being eliminated benefit low- and middle-income Oklahomans.