The newly-created Tax Incentive Commission in Oklahoma has started reviewing nearly $2 billion in tax incentives and credits including those for the state’s wind industry as the state government reacts two two revenue failures.
The commission held its first meeting on Thursday and starting reviewing $1.7 billion in annual tax rebates and incentives in the most comprehensive effort ever undertaken to determine their effectiveness and decide whether some should be eliminated or continued.
The Commission was established under House Bill 2182 by the late Rep. David Dank who died in the middle of last year’s legislative session
“This has been a long time in the making so I am very pleased that the Commission is established and starting the hard work of examining these incentives and possibly saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars that could be given back to citizens or redirected toward other priorities,” said Jeff Hickman, Speaker of the State House.
But many of the entities receiving the tax credits are worried it will affect their industries.
“We certainly believe that many tax credits and incentives are beneficial to our state and provide a boost to our economy,” added Rep. Hickman, “but we simply have not had good data nad information to help us determine which incentives are doing what they are designed to do and which ones cost the state more than they generate.”
The Tax Incentive Commission will be required to review each incentive every four years starting with the costliest incentives and report findings to the legislature and governor every year.
The commission is made up of five voting and three non-voting members including a private sector auditor, a professor of economics, a lay person, a certified public accountant and a representative from the Oklahoma Professional Economic Development Council. Speaker Hickman appointed Ron Brown, president and chief executive officer of the CSI Group, a private investigation company with experience in tracking down missing people and assets to the Commission in January.
