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Okla. Lawmakers Want To Clamp Down On Coal Tax Credits

BY: Dylan Scott | Oklahoma | October 27, 2011

An Oklahoma state legislative panel is questioning the state's practice of giving transferrable tax credits to coal mining companies as a means of create jobs and stimulate growth, The Oklahoman reports.

One state lawmaker estimated the tax credits cost the state up to $10 million annually. state Rep. David Dank told the newspaper that the state's economy would be better served by a jobs program that would prepare workers to enter the industry.

Dank said the credits had initially been created to help Oklahoma's coal mining companies compete with their rivals in other states. But now that they're transferrable, they're being sold, often to insurance companies, as a new revenue stream, and there is little accountability for how the companies spend that revenue, according to The Oklahoman.

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Dylan Scott

Dylan Scott is a GOVERNING staff writer.

E-mail: dscott@governing.com
Twitter: @dylanlscott

Coal States Uncertain of Industry's Future

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