September 22, 20089

We recently revealed OK Tax Commission documents showing investments of $236 million filed in 2007. See note 1. The law allows CAPCOs (See note 2 for an explanation of CAPCOs) to take twice the amount of the investments in tax credits. This comes to $472 million in tax credits.

Sadly, this revealed much more. One element of the law requires that a CAPCO cannot have more than (1/10) one-tenth of its total investments in one company. For each of the CAPCOs to meet the minimum would require $2.36 billion in total investments, which equates to $4.72 billion taken in tax credits.

The public soaked for $100's million going directly into the pockets of state officials and their cronies, in return for nothing!!

Unfathomable? Our form of government is designed to prevent this. Well, consider the following:

• - One element of public protection is public officials to guard against misuse of public money. What happens in a case like this where public officials are trapped in a corner by their own involvement? Helpless to act without involving themselves.
• - Another element of defense is budgetary limits. Not here, tax credits are not part of the budget or state finance system. Tax credits are tax credit cards with no limits, backed by the state treasury. The bill doesn't come for several years.
• - Then the last line of defense is the public being informed how the government is handling our money. The Oklahoma public has been stripped of its last defense, clueless it happened, through unconstitutional actions that denies the public the right to know. The ultimate price for apathy!

Oh, and that press thing? Right! This subject doesn't help ratings or sell papers. And, crony ownership!

See note 1: An expanded version of this artice including an explanation of CAPCOs at View