National Recognition for Oklahoma

Last Tuesday, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released its publication entitled, Rich States, Poor States. This is one of the most important reports for measuring each state government’s commitment to allow the free market to provide prosperity for its citizens. This year’s report prominently featured Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin who actually got to write the foreword.

I believe that elections have consequences. Problematically, it often takes a long time for people to realize the impact of their votes. Government moves very slowly, and by the time newly elected officials implement good or bad policies, the voters may not realize the correlation between their votes and the cause and effect brought on by the actions of these officials. Sometimes bad elected officials receive credit for the work of good predecessors and vice versa.

Fortunately, there is already very tangible evidence to show that the people of Oklahoma made the right choice when they voted in the fall of 2010. Over the past 15 months the Governor and other state officials have invested much hard work to reduce the punitive effects of big state government on free market enterprise. As you can see from the Rich States, Poor States report, the nation has already taken notice.

In addition to featuring the forward by Governor Fallin, the report specifically pointed to the plan to eliminate the state income tax put forward by Governor Fallin and a large number of legislators as a particular source of positive news for the future.

In grading the states, the report measures 15 different policies such as the amount of taxation and the size of the public sector when compared to the private sector. Each state receives a grade indicating the state’s economic outlook based on these policies, with Utah ranking first and New York ranking last. Oklahoma’s economic outlook checks in at 14th in the nation.

These are clearly remarkable times in our state’s history. It is an honor the serve with the Governor and a number of other state elected officials in advancing aggressive and innovative approaches for reducing the influence of state government over the free market. If we are successful, we can expect that for many years into the future Oklahoma will continue to be favorably positioned when compared to those states that do not adopt these reforms.

You can read the report, including Governor Fallin’s forward, by visiting hd31.org/302.

Thank you for reading this article. Your interest and input are much appreciated. Please do not hesitate to email Jason.Murphey@hd31.org with your thoughts and suggestions.