Pass a TABOR Law
"MORE EFFICIENT TAX SYSTEMS LEAD TO BIGGER GOVERNMENT"
There has been too much emphasis and focus on increasing taxes among government users of public tax dollars and their advocates. Before any increases in taxes are passed into law, there needs to be more focus on how to limit spending increases by governmental entities.
A close review of payrolls by department would be a great starting point of inquiry, in terms of where payroll dollars are allocated in comparison to the central mission of an agency of the government. For example, the central mission of education should be support of facilities (classrooms), students, and qualified faculty. But how do colleges, universities, and school districts allocate their payroll resources? This should be audited and reported to the public so that pleas of "we need more money" can be seen with more transparency.
One of the problems associated with agencies is that they grow in areas that are not central to the mission of that agency and then have major problems funding core mission priorities when funding runs short.
A study performed for the National Bureau of Economic Research by two University of Chicago economists showed that making a tax system more efficient would have the result in more government bloat. They observed, "Taxpayers offer less resistance to increases in flat tax rates than in rates of more onerous and less efficient forms of taxation."
While it makes sense to make tax policy more comprehensible and efficient, before such is implemented, strict spending controls must be placed on every agency of government to control how they grow their spending. While the legislative process would likely pick agency winners and losers, in terms of how monies are allocated, that perverse incentive could be mitigated via constitutional means.
Regardless, before reforming the tax code, spending must be constitutionally addressed. Oklahoma should pass a Taxpayer Bill of Rights law (TABOR) like Colorado. That would limit growth of government to a certain percentage of increase plus population growth. This would be a great start, BUT ONLY AFTER getting control and transparency of spending growth of governmental agencies.
http://www.nber.org/digest/feb99/w6789.html
There has been too much emphasis and focus on increasing taxes among government users of public tax dollars and their advocates. Before any increases in taxes are passed into law, there needs to be more focus on how to limit spending increases by governmental entities.
A close review of payrolls by department would be a great starting point of inquiry, in terms of where payroll dollars are allocated in comparison to the central mission of an agency of the government. For example, the central mission of education should be support of facilities (classrooms), students, and qualified faculty. But how do colleges, universities, and school districts allocate their payroll resources? This should be audited and reported to the public so that pleas of "we need more money" can be seen with more transparency.
One of the problems associated with agencies is that they grow in areas that are not central to the mission of that agency and then have major problems funding core mission priorities when funding runs short.
A study performed for the National Bureau of Economic Research by two University of Chicago economists showed that making a tax system more efficient would have the result in more government bloat. They observed, "Taxpayers offer less resistance to increases in flat tax rates than in rates of more onerous and less efficient forms of taxation."
While it makes sense to make tax policy more comprehensible and efficient, before such is implemented, strict spending controls must be placed on every agency of government to control how they grow their spending. While the legislative process would likely pick agency winners and losers, in terms of how monies are allocated, that perverse incentive could be mitigated via constitutional means.
Regardless, before reforming the tax code, spending must be constitutionally addressed. Oklahoma should pass a Taxpayer Bill of Rights law (TABOR) like Colorado. That would limit growth of government to a certain percentage of increase plus population growth. This would be a great start, BUT ONLY AFTER getting control and transparency of spending growth of governmental agencies.
http://www.nber.org/digest/feb99/w6789.html
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