[jaredtking]

The Oklahoma state government is grossly incompetent (I grew up here). A few years ago they cut the oil and gas production tax down to as low as 1% for the first 3 years. After a new well has been in production for 3 years the tax rate goes back up to 7%. The problem with that is that most of the production happens in the first 3 years. When the normal tax rate kicks in the wells are mostly dry!

And yet to this day, with the school system falling to pieces, the state government is still debating [0] whether to re-impose this tax on oil and gas producers. Keep in mind that this tax cut directly benefits companies like Devon that have an $18B market cap, as well as other larger out-of-state producers. As a comparison, neighboring Texas seems to tax oil and gas production at 4.6% [1]. It's a very shameful situation.

In my opinion this is the crux of the problem. Law makers have messed up priorities. In an ironic twist some oil and gas producers are even asking for the tax to be raised [2]. Even they know it is too generous.

[0] http://newsok.com/article/5548887 [1] https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/crude-oil/ [2] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oklahoma/articles/20...