Business Vs. Schools: Oklahomans Face A Clear Choice On State Question 766
Filed by KOSU News in State Impact.
October 11, 2012
Intangible property is everywhere.
Diners in a fast food restaurant are surrounded by it, from the design of the logo on the cups to the recipe for the special sauce on the hamburgers. A piece of property’s Intangible value is determined by its non-physical attributes. Telecom and utility companies’ transmission lines are worth more than the material they’re made up of. They have an intangible value.
In November, Oklahoma voters will decide State Question 766, which would ban the taxation of intangible property. The failure of 766 could mean big new taxes on businesses across the spectrum, but it will be Oklahoma’s school that suffer if the initiative passes.
- What An Oklahoma-based Hamburger Chain Can Teach Us About Intangible Property Taxes Determining the value of company logos, trade secrets and business licenses could be a nightmare for county assessors, but a ‘yes’ vote on 766 is a vote to cut schools by millions of dollars.Download
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Vote Yes. Let’s not let the assessor’s office decide which business to kill and which not to tax as much. Let’s not continue to tax individual talents and hard work and discourage initiative. Funding schools is not the job of exceptional people, it’s all of our jobs to share equally. If we are going to have laws, let’s have some that put character and God back into our curriculum … not continue to fund the liberal mess that our kids are being ruined by today.
This only affects the businesses that are state-wide, mainly the utilities, railroads and airlines. And they're already paying this tax. It's backed by these companies, to line their pockets. And if the 50 million bucks doesn't come from them, guess where it comes from?
What do taxes and God have to do with each other?
I'm with Mr. Milsap. God isn't part of this argument. We're not talking about "doing away with successful people." That's simply right-wing rhetoric. We're merely talking about tuning the economy a little bit. The rich have made substantial gains at the expense of the middle class in the past dozen years. The middle class is the repository of virtue in a society, because the poor can't afford to be as virtuous, and the rich typically didn't get rich by being overly virtuous. it's time for the wealthy to make modest sacrifices for the benefit of society. That's not going to upset any apple carts.