OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A panel established to review tax incentives provided by Oklahoma’s state government missed a Jan. 1 deadline to list the programs it intends to review.
Lawmakers created the eight-member Incentive Evaluation Commission last year as the state worked around a $611 million budget shortfall. Oklahoma now faces a shortfall of around $900 million, and appointments are still pending from the governor and Senate president, the Journal Record reported Monday (https://bit.ly/1VkJw0e ).
“Several potential appointees have expressed concern that they would not qualify for this position because of conflict-of-interest provisions in the law,” said Jay Marks, a spokesman for the governor.
Appointees cannot be employed by a company that receives a tax incentive, and they cannot hold more than 50 percent ownership in a company that does. Elected officials also cannot serve.
The director of Oklahoma’s Office of Management and Enterprise Services is on the panel. A spokesman for the office said that once the last two appointments are made, the commission will meet and hire a private firm, a nonprofit or an academic institution to evaluate the tax incentives. Others on the board include the president of the Oklahoma Professional Economic Development Council, the chairman of the Oklahoma Tax Commission and the state secretary of commerce.
Speaker of the House Jeff Hickman appointed Ron Brown, the panel’s only layperson. The Accountancy Board tapped CPA Carlos Johnson in November. Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman is to name a university economist.
“The first set of evaluations should still be in the hands of legislators for the 2017 session, as envisioned when the legislation was passed,” said John Estus, the spokesman for the Management and Enterprise Services office.
Economist Russell Evans said that even with the review, it’s unlikely that eliminating tax incentives would plug the entire budget hole.
“The idea of a process is probably a pretty good idea,” Evans said. “That said, I would suspect it’s insufficient to fill the revenue failure that we see in a year like this year.”
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Information from: The Journal Record, https://www.journalrecord.com
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