State Auditor Gary Jones Facing
Grass Roots Opposition in Run for Governor
Politicians attract toadies of all sorts, people attempting to be useful to the campaign, angling for special favors or a position after the election or simply making brownie points in case the politician wins the election. Sometimes though their work backfires and exposes the politician to ridicule and contempt, such was the case last week when a Gary Jones supporter found out that grass roots political activists on one Facebook group didn't have a high opinion of Jones.
The post was a link to a plan for the budget, with Jones calling for increasing the Gross Production Tax on oil and gas to 5% from the current average of 3.1% along with raising the tobacco tax and gasoline and diesel taxes. An additional 2% Gross Production Tax was recommended by Gary Jones once prices for oil and gas rise with the money going to education and the rainy day fund.
The half billion in new or increased taxes would be added to the billion dollars in new taxes added in 2016 and the three quarters of a billion in new taxes added in the 2017 legislative session. That is not counting the failed cigarette tax which was found to be illegal and unconstitutional by the Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this summer.
Shortly before that the same Facebook page, Sooner Politics, ran a poll that eviscerated State Auditor Gary Jones's tax increase plan, with the vote being 47 to five, really 47 to 2 once you drill down. The poll was small in size but keep in mind these are some of the more active political activists that might well foretell the mood of the voters in 2018.
