BY RUSSELL TURNER
BARKING DOGS
Over the years I have quoted my grandparents on many occasions, over the past several days as I have been reviewing some of the bills that have been submitted for the upcoming legislative session, one of my grandparent’s old expressions fits the current environment to a tee. I can remember my grandmother scolding one of her many grandchildren, she would often tell the child that they were not paying her any more attention than a dog barking. My grandmother was the kind of person that demanded respect from her children and grandchildren, when she told you something she expected you to listen to what she had to say. I just wish my grandmother was still around to grab the ear of some of our elected officials and get their attention.
I come from the working class, being involved in small business and agriculture gives me the experiences to know when we are being ignored. While there are some good conservatives in the state legislature, there are a bunch of so-called conservative republicans who are anything but conservative. Instead of trying to spend our tax money efficiently and keeping the government off of our back, they are in full revenue raising mode. Over the past several sessions there has been a constant drumbeat about pay raises for teachers and state employees; that is all fine and good, but the desire for a better life is not limited just to the state employees. Those of us who are in the private sector also deserve and want better compensation for what we do for a living. There are a couple of introduced bills that people in the agriculture sector do not deserve to ever see the light of day, House bill 2607 by Rick West and Senate bill 1392 by Marty Quinn.
These two bills will cost small farmers and ranchers thousands of dollars each year. Both bills totally change the sales tax exemption on agriculture products that farmers have to have to be in business. Both bills would require farmers to pay sales tax on items in the production of food, then once a year they would have to file a refund application to the Oklahoma tax commission to get their money back on tax exempt items. In the case of the senate bill there is also a clause that if a farmer doesn’t spend $25,000 a year on farm products he is not eligible for a refund. I, like many other Oklahomans, are getting sick of all of this talk of fees and raising taxes. Tax exempt cards are not limited just to farmers. All kinds of businesses who buy wholesale will purchase products and not pay sales tax until they sell the items retail. Even the farmers who currently sell retail to the public collect and remit sales tax to the state. The paper work alone will cause many small famers to pay the tax on production products because they won’t have the time to do all of the paperwork. It is a fact that our nation benefits greatly from the small farmer, but it is also a fact that society expects the farmer and rancher to live on next to nothing. If our lawmakers would simply look around, most farmers have to have a job off of the farm just to stay in business. When you look at the investment and the hours worked the small farmer is not making minimum wage. Now we have lawmakers who evidently don’t understand the first thing about the needs and plight of the small Oklahoma farmers wanting to put more burdens and expenses on them. I have news for all of them in OKC; we are not paid enough for things like health insurance, retirement and a modest living. We cannot go and protest to the legislature for more pay, we are bound to the market system. Most people in the state don’t understand the concept of business and the mainstream media is worse than worthless when it comes to informing the public. For anyone who thinks these two bills are a good thing, I have a suggestion. Go purchase a farm and try to operate if for a while and I bet your eyes will be opened. Anyone who is involved in agriculture needs to take a look at these two ill-conceived bills. It is time that our elected officials start paying us more attention than a dog barking.
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