BY SHARON MARTIN
Fifty kids in a sixth-grade classroom! Legislators, this is what your tax cuts have done.
You cannot cut your way to economic prosperity.
A generation from now, citizens you’ve starved, some literally, will be raising families in a Third World state unless you quit catering to a few rich donors and do what’s right.
We’ve seen almost no good legislation in this state for several years. Even when the people speak with their votes, when they try to make a positive change, self-servers at the capital block the progress. At whose bidding? You certainly aren’t serving the citizens of Oklahoma.
Do I sound a little angry?
I’ve seen the map. We are the only major oil producer that’s asking almost nothing of oil and gas companies except for campaign contributions and a box of education supplies to teach the next generation about the glories of oil and gas production. Not that I didn’t use that box of goodies to teach science. We teachers take what we can get when our schools are hungry.
What I say here probably won’t matter. People will continue to believe the lie that returning the gross production tax to previous levels will cost them their job. They will vote for you out of fear or misguided loyalty.
When these school kids you’ve cheated are raising families of their own, will they realize what you’ve done to them?
Will companies be able to find workers with adequate education and training?
Will Oklahoma roads still tear up our tires?
Will one child in four still be going to bed hungry?
Will there still be people who believe that the next tax cut is the one that is going to save them?
Enough with the corruption!
This is our state. We pay taxes. We want services that the state can’t afford because the working stiff is the only one paying his or her fair share.
Why are you always trying to give tax breaks to the people who don’t need them? We know why, and some of us are tired of bought-and-paid-for legislation.
Raise the gross production tax or get out of office. We want legislators who understand that education is an investment. Infrastructure is an investment. A give-away to donors is just a crime.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
