Governor’s Game Plan: Lower Taxes, Less Regulation to Attract Business to Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — The Governor is laying out how he’s hoping to recruit industries this upcoming legislative session.

To keep business booming in the Sooner state, the Governor is arguing for lower taxes and less regulation.

“If we get business rolling here and we get more jobs, that helps our school teachers, that helps our roads and bridges, that helps our workforce,” Governor Kevin State said.

He’s celebrating Oklahoma’s latest wins, including Chesapeake Energy’s nearly $8B merger with Southwestern Energy to create what Forbes called the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., or ‘Shark Tank’ investor Kevin O’Leary taking a trip to see what Oklahoma has to offer.

“AI, data centers, Google already has their largest one and they keep expanding. They love Oklahoma so much that he [O’Leary] thinks that Oklahoma could be a data center of the world,” the Governor said.

Aside from the wins, the Governor is acknowledging the losses, such as Michelin closing up a factor and Panasonic deals not working out.

“You’re not going to bat a thousand because you’ve got the economic pressures and different things happening with companies,” Gov. Stitt said. “That’s why you always have to be recruiting. That’s why you always have to be business friendly because some companies come and go but we always want to be net positive.”

He’s hoping some of his recruitment will take flight.

“People don’t realize how big Oklahoma is in aviation and defense, so we’re always tracking those types of companies,” Gov. Stitt said.

Another idea the Governor mentioned is setting up a court system strictly for businesses dealing with litigation.

“We want to set up a business court in Oklahoma where if there’s a business conflict it goes to special business judges that understand business law, transaction law and contract law,” he said.

The goal is to break barriers for businesses so they can start a foundation in our state.