This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast more what you Hear
Weekday Afternoon's on the Drive. Always great to have Governor Kevin stint On.
And we haven't had a chance to talk in a good while, Kevin,
Governor Stitt because there's a lot going on. But let's just start with the
tax cut you've been wanting to secure for all of Oklahomans. I know I
want one. Well, yeah, just so Oklahomans understand this. You know,
first off, Oklahoma used to have a seven percent income tax rate.
Think about that for a second. It used to be at seven. We've
been on this path to get it down to zero for the last thirty years,
and now it's four point seventy five. I've already cut it once.
I want to cut it again. And the reason we do is we believe
in smaller government, lower taxes that spurs the economy. And it's not the
tax it's not the government's money, it's the taxpayers money. And we can
absolutely afford it. We have plenty of revenue in the state. We have
the largest savings account we've ever accumulated. And I don't want to just keep
growing growing government when we have excess revenue. We got to give that back
to the people. And that's what I'm asking for. Yeah, I was
wondering about that because I've heard so much about that, that huge amount of
money we've got. What is the reticence with the legislature to even talk about
it? Man, it's weird. I mean you some people there's just a
philosophical difference. They believe in bigger government. They want to spend your money,
and they think they can do it better than you can. I fundamentally
disagree with that. Government is not the answer that I've been up here as
the businessman governor. I've been here now, this is my sixth session,
and government is too big. Another government program is not going to help the
economy grow. It's not going to help people. We need to give that
back to the taxpayer. So and the other thing I remind people, I
would never cut revenue below our are ongoing expenses, right, But when we
have excess revenue, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying, let's let's modestly
grow government, but let's give the rest of it back to the tax payer.
It makes perfect sense to me. I'll tell you this. The House
of Representatives has passed it. Every single time I've asked this special session.
All I said was, hey, put it up for a vote. So
the protim of the Senate said he would comply with my order. He's never
put it up for a vote yet on special sessions. Hopefully the Senate will
just put it up for a vote. That's all I'm asking for. Well,
I can tell you the callers to this program, Governor Kevin Stitt agree
we are over text. It seems like every time we turn around, they're
talking about a new text. Whether it's an increase in turnpike fees, whether
it's a per mile tax rather than a gas tax, whether it's income tax
increases, whether it's utility bills going up and then going down and then going
back up again. The legislature has to be hearing this as well, I
hope. So that's why I'm on the radio today. I just want to
try to explain it so everybody can hear it from my point of view.
If we have a five billion dollar savings, if I have extra revenue,
let's cut, let's cut. Let's give it back to the taxpayer. It's
not the government's money. Uh. And and remember this money doesn't disappear.
It just stays in the tax in your pockets, and then you get to
use it for uh, go to the grocery store, taking your kids to
a ball game, going to the buying them a new bicycle. So that
money spends in our economy. That is the most efficient way that we can
grow our economy and be the most business friendly state by giving that back to
the taxpayer. Governor Kevin stits with us. Are you speak speaking specifically of
income tax cut or are you looking at are there other options you would consider?
Oh, listen, Uh if it's if it's a tax cut, I
will absolutely consider it. But this specific session, I've called three different special
sessions over the last three years for tax cuts of all kinds. I've asked
for to remove the grocery tax. We're one of only twelve states that taxes
groceries, and you talk about a regressive tax that hurts people on the lower
income brackets worse than anything last the state of the state. Last February,
in February of twenty three, I called for three quarters of a point tax
cut because we had a billion dollar surplus. Well what happened. We ended
up spending all of that money and did not give the tax payer any kind
of tax cut. I asked for seventy five basis points last year. So
the citizens are gonna have to push and call your representatives, call your senators,
and just tell them listen, we need a pay raise. And think
about this. Think about inflation. If you haven't got significant increases in your
salary over the last few years, and you've actually lost money, you've actually
got to pay cut because everything costs more. Does that make sense. Inflation
is hurting and is damaging your ability at the grocery store and your ability to
buy goods and services. Because inflation is harming everyone, Let's give Oklahomas a
pay raise now. Governor Kevin stits with us talking about the special session he's
called for that will butt right up against the regular session. And this is
the type of thing that is necessary in a special session. Or could the
legislature pick it up in the in the real session. Well they could,
but they haven't the last two years. So I'm trying to have specific focus
on it. Now is the time. Why do we want to wait.
If we get it done now, it doesn't get gummed up in the regular
session and then you know exactly what you have to spend in next session.
And by the way, a quarter of a point is only one hundred million
dollars hit to the revenue in this budget cycle, which is called fiscal year
twenty five, So it's only one hundred million in fiscal year twenty five.
Let's get it done. Let's get it done before we even go in.
All I asked was, here was my call to the legislature. Put it
up for a vote. That's it. Do you want to vote it down?
Vote it down? Put it up for a vote. One of the
critics, vote is popular. We know it's popular with the citizens, and
so if they put it up for a vote, then you know it'll pass
because nobody would actually vote against it except the Democrats because they believe in bigger
government. Or it's going to flush out who believes philosophically that the government should
be raising new government programs versus giving it back to the taxpayer. Govinor Kevin
stick with us and the special session that he's called for to lower taxes.
I mentioned the per mile tax that is being studied right now by the legislature.
Would you have any thoughts on that that that's it's silly. There's no
way that I'm going to I'm going to put my name to increasing fees or
taxes on Oklahoma's here's the deal, let's give there's also people studying. Let's
give government employees another pay raise. I'm like, no, I am not
going to give government employees a pay raise until we give Oklahoma tax payers a
pay raise. And one of the criticisms of of from the legislature that I've
read Governor Kevinstead is that they say, you are not coming to them with
a specific plan. How much more specific can I be? I've listen.
If I was too prescriptive, they say, oh, you're getting into our
business and you're telling us how to legislate. Okay, So that's the other
thing I hear. So I've called three special sessions on tax cuts. I've
given them a smortgage board. I've just said cut taxes. I've just said
considered everything this time. I've changed the tactics, and i just said,
just put it up for a vote. One quarter of a percent. That's
all I'm asking for. Put it up for a vote. I don't know.
You tell me how I could be more prescriptive. The bottom line is
they're trying to spend the Oklahoma people in a circle and make confuse them on
the real issue. Here's the facts that Oklahomas need to know. We have
the largest savings that we've ever had, over five billion dollars. We have
excess revenue this year over our expenses. So what are we going to do
with it? Are we going to increase to grow government or we're going to
give it back to you. I want to give it back to the Oklahoma
people. And there's some people philosophically that believe bigger government is the right answer.
I just disagree with that. Well, especially now you know we've got
the income. I mean, I gather a lot of this surplus came from
the increase in oil prices. Well it's been it's because Oklahoma's elected a business
guy, business than governor. Our economy's boomy. We've been fiscally conservative.
I've been hammering not to raise expenses at the state level, so we have
been saving over the last couple of years. We have all this savings account,
and I wanted to first build our savings account before we started cutting taxes,
to make sure that we could weather any kind of downturn. Just like
in your personal budget, you need to have you know, the financial planners
tell us that we need to have three at least three months worth of savings
and our savings account just for a rainy day situation. So Oklahoma's maxed at
our any day, we have a large savings account. I would never put
us in a bad situation, but we need to give some money back to
the taxpayer now and keep this momentum. Governor Kevin Stitt talking about a special
session, So that's what you were hoping that will be different this time,
that they will just actually put it up for a vote. Correct. Yeah,
And just to remind everybody, I mean, the House has passed it
every single time. The Senate just in my opinion, just keeps playing games
and trying to confuse people and saying that we don't have the revenue or But
philosophically, just be honest. If you think that you want to spend people's
money and you want to grow government, then just say that. So Oklahomas
know really where you're at, But don't act like you're for smaller government and
not even put it up for a vote. That's where people need to actually
be involved. Call your senator, Call your House member, make sure you
tell them that you stand with Governor Stitt for smaller government. And they will
answer, by the way, because they're getting ready for this session as well.
It's just another couple of weeks. That's that's exactly right, That's exactly
right. Uh. But let's get this done before we go into SPA,
go into regular session, so we know exactly how much money we have to
spend. That's all. That's what we need to do. Govin Kevin Stead,
I wanted to ask you about the job Ryan Walters has done so far
and your thoughts on that. Yeah, you know, Walter's in Oklahoma.
We have a separately elected superintend of Education that's in charge of all education.
And so he's doing a great job as far as I'm concerned. He's really
getting after getting after quality. He's looking at reading programs. Sometimes he uh,
he riles up folks with some of his statements, but that's just you
know, he's separately elected than I am. But I support Walters. And
and the main thing is let's make Oklahoma top ten in education. Let's give
parents more options, more choice and uh and and we're doing that. Last
year we passed the largest and the best school choice, education freedom plan in
the entire country, and so now we need to get that over the finish
line and get more charter schools, more Christian schools, more specialty schools like
my aviation school in Norman, because not every kid learns the same way,
and not every kid is going to go to owe you and get an engineering
degree. We've got trade schools and all of these options are really good for
Oklahoma kids. Comor Kevin Stead, you've already kind of done this, given
me a preview of what you plan to hit on in your State of the
State address that opens the session. Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, obviously,
the thing that I always remind people is we're all Oklahomans. Let's make
Oklahoma top ten state. That's what I always talk about in everything that we
do. And I truly believe that if you let DC play the politics,
we're just Oklahomans and I'm just trying to improve education. I'm trying to make
sure we have the best infrastructure, best quality of life with commute times,
the best economy. I believe if we have the best economy and we're top
ten and the best places for business, then that's going to help everyone parks
and entertainment, and education and infrastructure, healthcare. Everything benefits when we have
our economy booming, and so all of my policies are focused on being a
business friendly state, a free market, free market state. Get government out
of the way and let businesses go compete against each other. That's all they
want, Governor Kevin Stittz. We will see what the legislature does on the
coming days, and we thank you for joining us today and lining out your
side of the story. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for having
me. Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast,
and remember to listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven
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