I’m sorry I missed last week’s column. It was a busy week and I did not have the chance to sit down and reflect on all which occurred. I’ll try to get everyone caught up to date.
My family lost my grandmother, Jackie Henderson, to cancer this past Friday. She lived in Jacksboro, Texas and her funeral was on Monday. It was a service she would have liked as people reflected on the good times with her and the memories which brought back laughs. It was the first time many of our cousins had been together in years and we agreed that we would try to spend more time together, especially since many of them have children the same age as when we would get together at holidays. She and my grandfather were very supportive of the grandkids and encouraged us to achieve our dreams. All eight of their grandchildren will have completed college degrees (one is in his final year). This is truly the meaning of family values when they worked to improve the lives of the next two generations of their family. Read more…
Learning from the Failures of other States
Rep. Jason Murphey
If you spend much time watching business or news networks such as CNBC or FOX, you may have noticed a commercial promoting Michigan as a good location for business owners to conduct business. For the past several years, Michigan’s political leaders have offered $3.3 billion in tax credits through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and spent another $1.6 billion in outlays to create and retain jobs. The subsidies include tax breaks for film production, funding for new industrial plants, and millions for the nationwide TV ads starring celebrities talking about business and tourism to Michigan.
Upon seeing the ad, and aside from thinking about how wasteful it is for state government to spend money on television commercials, I seriously question how the politicians in Michigan can so aggressively insult the intelligence of American business owners. Read more…
ESenator Gumm’s “Senate Minute” for Sept. 11-17, 2009 – Sales Tax Holiday and Real Tax Reform
Hello again, everybody! Recently, I was in a political skirmish with an organization that issued a report critical of Oklahoma’s back-to-school sales tax holiday.
Passing the sales tax holiday was one of the most important legislative goals I had when you elected me to be your senator. Forces from big city mayors to high-dollar lobbyists worked to defeat the proposal. After years of hard work, perseverance and bipartisan cooperation, we finally overcame those obstacles to pass the bill.
Although the sales tax holiday has been in effect for three years, and is very popular across Oklahoma, some still fight it. One of those groups continuing to oppose the sales tax holiday is The Tax Foundation, a Washington special interest group. Read more…