美国国家公共电台 NPR Tax Cuts Put Oklahoma In A Bind. Now Gov. Fallin Wants To Raise Taxes

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right, so Oklahoma is in a bit of a bind¹. Riding high on the oil boom in the late 2000s, the state slashed² taxes - but the promised prosperity never came, and now state lawmakers are trying to find a way out. Rachel Hubbard of member station KOSU reports.

RACHEL HUBBARD, BYLINE³: One in 5 Oklahoma schools now holds classes just four days a week. Last year, highway patrol officers were given a mileage⁴ limit because the state couldn't afford to put gas in their tanks. And Medicaid provider rates have been cut to the point that rural nursing homes and hospitals are closing.

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MARY FALLIN: We can continue down the road - the path of sliding backwards⁵. Or we could choose a second path, which is to say enough is enough. We can do better. We deserve better. Our children deserve better, too.

HUBBARD: That's Republican Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin on Monday during her final State of the State address. She spent most of it touting⁶ a plan from a large coalition⁷ of business leaders to raise taxes and enact⁸ reforms. David Rainbolt, a banker, is a leader of the group known as Step Up Oklahoma.

DAVID RAINBOLT: You can look at the problems we have and realize that this problem will occur over and over and over again unless we create revenue streams that create stability.

HUBBARD: But there's a problem. When you pass a tax cut in the state of Oklahoma, it may as well be permanent. In the early 1990s, in reaction to a tax increase, voters passed a ballot⁹ measure that requires 75 percent of the legislature to vote in favor of any revenue hike. That supermajority requirement has given the tiny Democratic minority in Oklahoma the power to derail any plan. And even though the Step Up Oklahoma plan meets many of their demands, House Minority Leader Steve Kouplen says it's just not enough.

STEVE KOUPLEN: The drowning man will grab any lifeline, whether it's a good one or not. One has been thrown to us. We think it needs to be tweaked, and we think some true compromise needs to take place to change it.

HUBBARD: Democrats¹⁰ believe oil and gas companies have gotten rich while cuts to state services have fallen on poor Oklahomans, and they shouldn't bear the cost of fixing a mess they didn't make. Rainbolt says when Step Up created its plan, business leaders from competing industries sat down at a table. Everyone had to give.

RAINBOLT: We'd created something that no one in the room liked every part of but that everybody in the room agreed would move us forward. And we thought it was salable¹¹ to the legislature, and it appears that it is.

HUBBARD: The spirit of compromise hasn't reached lawmakers yet. They're now in their second special session, trying to pass a budget for the current fiscal¹² year. And lobbying is fierce for the Step Up plan that's supposed to provide a more permanent revenue fix. Leaders in the legislature say they're hoping to vote on it as soon as it can pass. The Democratic minority in the Oklahoma House of Representatives says it still needs more work before they'll support it. At this point, the gridlock continues. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Hubbard in Oklahoma City.

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1 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

2 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

5 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

6 touting   

v.兜售( tout的现在分词 )；招揽；侦查；探听赛马情报

参考例句：

• He's been touting his novel around publishers for years. 他几年来一直到处找出版商兜售自己的小说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Technology industry leaders are touting cars as a hot area for growth. 科技产业领袖吹捧为增长热点地区的汽车。 来自互联网

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

9 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

10 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 salable   

adj.有销路的，适销的

参考例句：

• Black Tea and Longjin Tea are salable in our market.红茶和龙井茶在我们那很好卖。
• She was a slave,and salable as such. 她是个奴隶，既然是奴隶，也就可以出卖。

12 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。