Purpose
Monitor and analyze tax and economic development issues and legislation as to their impact on Oklahoma businesses and recommend policy to the State Chamber Board of Directors.
2020 Legislative Initiatives
State Agenda
- Protect, expand and identify valuable economic development incentives by researching best practices in other states and allow IEC to review and propose new incentives to support emerging and existing industries to keep Oklahoma competitive
- Continue to support and protect the pension reforms that lower Oklahoma’s unfunded pension liability
- As part of an all-inclusive energy approach, support a tax structure for all energy development that protects existing investment and promotes new capital investment in Oklahoma
- Support reforms to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of both the Small Employer Quality Jobs Act, the 21st Century Quality Jobs Act and the Quality Jobs Act
- Support tax policy that encourages business growth and oppose tax policy that is harmful to business
- Support expansion of funding for state economic development efforts including OCAST to benefit business and industry technology expansion, market diversification, entrepreneurship, seed capital and new product development
- Support and protect efforts to meet housing demand to keep pace with economic development and workforce needs
- Support the expansion of public/private partnerships using best practices such as opportunity zones
- Support legislation to prohibit government entities at any level from hiring outside auditors for increased revenue collection on a contingency or performance fee basis
- Reduce business uncertainty by supporting a state budgeting process that produces multi-year strategic spending plans, increasing transparency, utilizing best practices for agency operations, forecasting revenues, spending commitments, budget limitations and pension obligations
- Support legislation to address the problem of the number of uninsured motorists, which adversely affect insurance costs of law-abiding citizens and the costs of trauma care centers that must provide medical treatment to uninsured motorists who are injured in accidents
- Oppose redirection of funds derived from industry licensing and service fees for general revenue
- Oppose the imposition of the state’s sales tax on professional services, digital goods and labor
- Support economic development incentives that create and maintain jobs and investments in Oklahoma including the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts and Business Improvement Districts (BID)
- Oppose efforts to conform Oklahoma state tax law in order to preserve tax savings from changes to federal tax law contained in the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017
- Support efforts to modernize county assessment procedures for Oklahoma’s energy, construction and agriculture industries
Federal Agenda
- Support the continuation of Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) in the federal tax code
- Support the continuation and make permanent the Native American Tax Incentives in the federal tax code
- Support continual evaluation to determine designated opportunity zones and expand throughout all eligible census tracks in Oklahoma’s tribal jurisdictional areas as well as support the tax extension
- Support the administration in giving preference points to grant applications originating from opportunity zones
oklahoma retail federation
As Oklahoma’s retail trade association and the voice of retail in our state, the State Chamber of Oklahoma’s Retail Federation represents retailers of all types and sizes, including chain restaurants and industry partners, from around the state and the United States.
research and resources
Issue Brief: Graduate Corporate Income Tax (2017)
Issue Brief: The Cost of Over-Regulation (2016)
Issue Brief: Trans-Pacific Partnership Is Good for Trade and Economic Growth (2016)
2016 Accountability for a Competitive Economy (ACE) Book
