As the commission tasked with reviewing some of the tax credit programs in Oklahoma meets Wednesday, Oklahoma’s Director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services says the commission is already on track to do a good and effective job.
Writing in this month’s Oklahoma Economic Report, issued through the state Treasurer’s office, Preston Doerflinger said the new Incentive Evaluation Commission will “let policymakers truly know if these incentives are worth the cost.”
One of the first such incentives meant to spur business activity is a credit for electricity generated by Zero-Emission facilities which has an impact every year of nearly $27 million.
“Judging by the early progress of the commission and the makeup of the commission itself, the product should be precisely the type of tool Oklahoma has needed to sort out the good incentives from the not-so-good ones,” wrote Doerflinger.
He said the Commission is fortunate to get advice from two former state budget directors who understand the need to justify the incentives.
“Oklahoma is getting much closer to being able to make that justification about its tax incentives. When it does, policymakers will be better equipped to structure incentives so that the state budget and its economy each see benefits,” stated Doerflinger who is also the Governor’s Secretary of Finance, Administration and Information Technology.
Doerflinger called out two members of the commission.
“I have been particularly impressed with the work of Dr. Cynthia Rogers, a University of Oklahoma economist, and Jim Denton, an Edmond auditor. These two commissioners have been chiefly responsible for development of the criteria that will be used to evaluate each incentive.”
Other voting members on the commission include Lyle Roggow, the chairman; Carlos Johnson, a CPA; and Ron Brown, President of CSI Group. Three non-voting members sit on the commission including Doerflinger , Tax Commissioner Dawn Cash and Commerce Secretary Deby Snodgrass.