Concerns over DOGE-OK

Dear Editor,

I am writing to express my appreciation for the professional and efficient help recently given me by an employee of the Oklahoma Tax Commission. (OTC) Her assistance was a fine example of acting on the agency’s mission statement, ‘Promote tax compliance through serving taxpayers with transparency and fairness in the administration of the tax code and unparalleled customer service’ displayed in the ‘about’ section of oklahoma.gov/tax.

That section also mentions the agency has ‘built a dynamic team of more than 600 dedicated staff committed to meeting the needs of taxpayers,’ and ‘we collect and distribute over $11 Billion to more than 200 state agencies, funds and programs each year.’ I am in awe that a staff of over 600 can handle the duties required to collect and distribute taxpayer dol- lars as required by law. The staff does not decide who to collect from or who to distribute tax dollars to. They do their job and implement the laws created by our elected government.

I am concerned about how OTC and the other 124 agencies listed at oklahoma. gov/top/agency will be evaluated by DOGE-OK. Governor Stitt issued Executive Order 2025-04 establishing DOGE-OK on Feb. 3. The order created the unpaid position of Chief DOGE Advisor and gave that person ‘broad authority to review agency budgets and operations.’ The order also requires state agency directors to take immediate action to ensure DOGE-OK receives full access to agency records, data, software systems and IT systems. The order states by March 31, 2025, DOGE-OK will submit a report outlining strategies for efficiency, recommendations for fiscal reforms, and specific agency findings.

On Feb. 14, our Governor appointed Marc Nuttle to be the ‘unpaid special volunteer’ leader of DOGE-OK. In his acceptance speech, Mr. Nuttle said, in part, ‘My mission is simple: to ensure every tax dollar is spent strategically with purpose and accountability. Time is of the essence.’ According to the Executive Order he has ‘broad authority’ to review agencies but no authority to ensure how tax dollars are spent. He did not mention the March 31 deadline but may have been referring to it.

I am concerned that six weeks and three days is not enough time for unpaid special volunteer Nuttle to: develop the definition of government waste needed to evaluate it, create a staff of qualified people, create rules to safeguard my tax and other information, evaluate 125 agencies’ records, data, software systems and IT systems and then prepare the required report that should be made public.

I’m sure special volunteer Nuttle’s mission would be simpler if he and Governor Stitt have already determined which agencies are wasting tax dollars and which government employees should be fired immediately to promote efficiency. I hope they have not done that.

Contact your elected Representatives if you have concerns about this matter. Do not call unpaid special volunteer Nuttle. He will be very busy working on his ‘simple mission’ until March 31.

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, MULDROW