Obituary Lauds Death of Estate Tax

House Speaker Lauds Death of Estate Tax
Obituary Highlights Punitive Nature of Death Tax’s Life



‘Death’ Tax

The estate tax, commonly known
as the ‘death’ tax, died Dec. 31,
2009 in Oklahoma at the age of 74.

It was born in 1935 and has been
one of the most unjust forms of
revenue generation ever concocted
and is a classic form of double
taxation.

The death tax is survived by
countless heirs and business
owners who no longer have to
worry about having to pay an extra
“estate” tax on property upon
death of a loved one, especially
those in rural Oklahoma.

The tax has been gradually
eliminated over the last few years,
with full repeal occurring Jan. 1.

“When people lose a loved one,
they suffer enough without facing
a new tax burden, especially one
that could potentially force the
sale of a family farm or business,”
said House Speaker Chris Benge,
R-Tulsa.

The death tax is a tax on the net
estate of a decedent. “There is no
reason why Oklahomans, who have
paid taxes their whole lives, should
force their loved ones to pay an
extra ‘estate’ tax on their property
upon death,” Benge added.

As recently as 2004, before the
Legislature began the phase-out of
the death tax, Oklahoma families
lost over $111 million to this scheme.

“This change will allow family farms
and businesses to survive as they are
handed down to the next
generation,” said Benge.

Unlike in Washington, where the
death tax has been repealed just
for 2010 and will need
Congressional reauthorization for
the repeal to continue, Oklahoma’s
death tax no longer exists as of
Jan. 1.

“There are plenty of challenges each
day for family farms and small
businesses without having to worry
that the state’s death tax burden
will make it even more difficult,
if not impossible, for the next
generation to continue the family
business,” said Rep. Jeff Hickman,
R-Fairview and chairman of the
House Revenue and Taxation
Committee.

“These type of
operations may have significant
assets but a razor thin cash flow,
making the sale of land that has
been in the family for generations
or the liquidation of a small
business the only way to pay
the estate tax.

“The U.S. Congress should follow
Oklahoma’s lead and permanently
bury this unfair double-taxation
scheme that threatens farmers,
ranchers and small business
owners who are the backbone
of our American economy and
who have paid their taxes once
already on what they own,”
Hickman concluded.

A service of celebration will be held
on each Oklahomans’ tax return next
year who will no longer be forced to
pay this punitive tax.

House Leaders Promise Oklahomans Will Get Tax Refunds, Unlike Californians

In light of California officials recently announcing the delay of state tax refunds, House Republican leaders assured Oklahomans today that they will get the money they are due from the state government.

California's latest budget woes stand in stark contrast to Oklahoma's situation and prove the wisdom of the fiscally conservative policies enacted by the Legislature in recent years, House Speaker Chris Benge said.

“Under no circumstance do Oklahomans need to worry about not getting their tax refunds. Even the suggestion of such an idea would be dead on arrival under Republican leadership in the Legislature,” said Benge, R-Tulsa. “California's fiscal policies have put it on the brink of financial disaster while Oklahoma's conservative policies have us better prepared to deal with tough economic times.”

According to reports, California's budget deficit will soon total $40 billion – a budget hole more than five times the size of Oklahoma's entire state budget.

Officials have warned that California could run out of cash as early as next week. The state has already imposed a delay on tax refunds, aid to students and the poor could soon cease, and some state offices may reduce hours.

To fill the budget hole, California officials are considering a wide range of tax increases, including a hike in the state sales tax, an increased beverage tax, and new taxes on some services and activities, such as car repairs.

“California has the world's eighth-largest economy, yet they can't even perform basic functions of government – and they plan to charge their citizens more for less,” said state Rep. Jeff Hickman, a Fairview Republican who chairs the House Revenue and Taxation Subcommittee.

“In comparison, we have enacted policy measures in Oklahoma that promote a favorable business climate, including income tax reductions that put more money into the pockets of working families and stimulate our economy.”

A common-sense approach to financial planning is a major reason Oklahoma is not in the same sad shape as California, said Benge.

“Oklahomans expect government to live within its means, just like working families do,” he said.

Benge said lawmakers will continue to pursue those common-sense strategies as they work on this year's state budget. The Oklahoma Legislature will convene on Monday, Feb. 2.

Legislator Proposes Better Way for Schools to Make Up Snow Days

A proposal to change the way Oklahoma’s school year is calculated would give school districts much greater flexibility in the way they make up the days they missed this week because of the winter weather.

House Bill 1864, by Rep. Jeff Hickman (R-Fairview), converts Oklahoma’s current requirement of 180 six-hour school days each year to 1080 hours of instruction each school year.

“With the winter weather we’ve had this week, schools are left scrambling to find days they can add to the calendar to make up for what they missed by closing,” Hickman said. “Some schools didn’t close because it is so challenging to make up those days which resulted in students and parents, buses and teachers being out on very icy, dangerous roads when they had no business driving anywhere.”

Hickman’s plan allows school officials to simply extend their school day until they have made up the hours they missed. For example, one snow day could be made up by extending the school day by an hour for six days, regaining the lost instructional time. Each period of instruction would gain approximately 10 minutes of additional class time each of those six days to cover lessons missed when the school was closed for weather.

Extending existing school days would save money for school districts that would otherwise have to run buses, heat and clean buildings and incur other fixed costs when they must open school buildings for makeup days.

Perhaps the best option for schools if House Bill 1864 becomes law is to build in extra time at the start of the school year, banking hours that can then be used in the event of an unpredictable winter weather closing. If at the end of the school year the time wasn’t needed, then students and teachers benefit from a few extra minutes of instruction time each day.

“This bill gives schools greater flexibility to meet their individual needs,” said Hickman. “No two school districts are the same and this change gives local school officials the ability to determine what works best for their situation.”

In addition to helping take the pressure off of schools dealing with winter-weather related closings, schools could also choose to have longer four-day school weeks during months when temperatures warm to the opposite end of the thermometer making it expensive to cool school buildings. This change could save hundreds of thousands of dollars across the state that school districts now must spend on utilities.

“Besides helping schools control their costs in August and May when it can be very warm in Oklahoma and very expensive to keep the air conditioners running, this change also lets schools adjust their schedule to compensate for Fridays in the spring and toward the end of the school year when many activities take students out of the classroom,” Hickman said. “By extending the school day Monday through Thursday after Spring Break, schools could either not meet on Fridays or perhaps dismiss at noon, allowing students to participate in activities like music contests or track meets without missing classes and without leaving teachers with only a handful of students in the classroom as they try to cover lessons for which all of the students need to be present.”

House Bill 1864 is expected to be assigned to the House Education Appropriations & Budget Committee. The Oklahoma Legislature convenes on February 2.

GOP lawmakers return contributions

GOP lawmakers return contributions
By MICK HINTON World Capitol Bureau
1/17/2008

The money came from the son of a
controversial insurance firm owner.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Three Republican lawmakers confirmed Wednesday that they will be returning unsolicited campaign contributions from Bradford Phillips, the son of controversial Texas insurance company owner Gene Phillips.

Rep. Jeff Hickman, R-Dacoma, and Rep. Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, both said they received checks for $600, and Rep. George Faught, R-Muskogee, received $645. The contributions came in late De cember.

The three are members of a House committee that approved legislation favorable to the Phillips family last spring.

Faught said that when he learned about the controversy surrounding the Phillips family, he decided to return the check. Sears, who had cashed the check, took $600 out of his campaign Tuesday and sent it to Phillips. Hickman said he was mailing the check back Wednesday.

"I returned the contribution; I just felt uncomfortable," Faught said.

House Speaker Lance Cargill and six other Republican lawmakers have confirmed that they recently attended a fundraiser for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in the Dallas home of Gene Phil lips, who has been linked to former state insurance commissioner Carroll Fisher, who is now in prison.

The speaker and lawmakers have said they either did not realize where the fundraiser was being held or who Gene Phillips was.

Cargill said the fundraiser gave him an opportunity to talk with Huckabee.

Fisher, who is serving a three-year prison term for embezzling money from his campaign, also is accused of accepting $25,000 and other gifts from Phillips, his family and business associates in exchange for favorable treatment of their insurance companies.

Last spring, Bradford Phillips tried but failed to get legislation passed that would have lowered the amount of assets that insurance companies have to show before being allowed to do certain business in Oklahoma.

The legislation contained a key amendment sponsored by Rep. Greg Piatt, the speaker's House majority leader. Piatt, R-Ardmore, received a $5,000 contribution in June from Bradford Phillips, state Ethics Commission records show.

Sears recalled Wednesday that when the legislation was pending last spring, Bradford Phillips took the members of the House Economic Development and Financial Services Committee to dinner at The Ranch Steakhouse in Oklahoma City. Campaign contributions of as much as $5,000 and dinners bought by lawmakers are not illegal if they are reported.

Faught is vice chairman of the committee. Hickman and Sears are members.

Faught said that when the contribution came in, he didn't connect that Bradford Phillips was the one who had sought legislation benefiting his family's insurance companies.

"I prefer to get contributions locally," he said.

Hickman said Wednesday that although he was chair man of the Insurance and Retirement Subcommittee, the legislation that Phillips wanted had bypassed his subcommittee and went directly to the committee led by Rep. Ron Peterson, R-Tulsa.

Representatives who attended the Dallas fundraiser besides the speaker included Peterson; Gus Blackwell, R-Goodwell; Mike Jackson, R- Enid; Rob Johnson, R-Kingfisher; Colby Schwartz, R-Yukon; and T.W. Shannon, R-Lawton.

Former lawmaker Bill Case, who is now a lobbyist, said this week that he rented a bus and took the lawmakers to the Dallas function.

Case, who ran unsuccessfully for insurance commissioner, is a lobbyist partner with Bobby Stem, who represented Phillips at the Capitol in trying to get the legislation passed.

Stopped in the hall at the Capitol, Case said taking the lawmakers to the fundraiser was "very innocent."

"Then all of a sudden it is a media frenzy," he said.

Mick Hinton (405) 528-2465
mick.hinton@tulsaworld.com

RED FACE GOP Legislators Return Campaign Contributions

Three Republican lawmakers confirmed Wednesday that they will be returning unsolicited campaign contributions from Bradford Phillips, the son of controversial Texas insurance company owner Gene Phillips.

The AP reports
Rep Jeff Hickman and















Earl Sears and









George Faught

are returning $600 donations given by Bradford Phillips, son of Dallas real estate developer Eugene Phillips. Representative George Faught is returning $645 to the younger Phillips.


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