If the robin heralds the arrival of spring, what do improved economic statistics portend? Either better days are ahead or we’re merely in a temporary lift from the trough of recession.

Tuesday's state revenue report covering February collections fired a shot of hope across the bow of a listing ship of state. Is the tide starting to turn?

No one can say for sure, but having collections that exceeded estimates for the first time in more than a year is a buoyant moment. Unfortunately, exceeding an estimate is one thing. Exceeding last year's collections is another. February receipts were off by $17.3 million from a year ago.

A review of some of our tax breaks is needed, but legislators want to keep riding the same high hog

BY ARNOLD HAMILTON

By the time you're reading this, state lawmakers should be nearly finished plugging the holes in Oklahoma's Ship of State, keeping it afloat financially through the final four months of the 2010 fiscal year.

OUR VIEWS Tax credits, incentives a hot topic

The Oklahoman Editorial The Oklahoman   

Published: February 21, 2010

MAKE no mistake: The buzz swirling at the state Capitol over tax credits and incentives is an attempt to squeeze more blood from a tight revenue turnip.

Billion-dollar budget hole causes confusion over multitudes of tax breaks

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
By Scott Cooper

Contact: David Blatt, Director

(918) 794-3944; (918) 859-8747 - cell

Oklahoma Policy Institute Report Shines Light on Need for Greater Scrutiny of State Tax Breaks

(Tulsa, February 17, 2010):  Oklahoma's budget crisis creates new needs and new opportunities to review the state's extensive system of tax breaks, according to a research brief released today by Oklahoma Policy Institute, a state policy organization.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The rhetoric doesn't match the math when Gov. Brad Henry talks about plugging a billion-dollar shortfall in Oklahoma's current budget.

While the deficit is huge -- $729 million -- it is well short of the "more than $1 billion" Henry has cited since his State of the State address Feb. 1.

"It just doesn't reflect the actual shortfall this year," said David Blatt, director of policy for the Oklahoma Policy Institute think tank and a former budget analyst for the Oklahoma Senate.

On January 13, David was the guest of Rich Fisher on Studio Tulsa discussing the state's worsening fiscal outlook. From the Studio Tulsa website, you can listen to the full 25-minute interview.

OUR VIEWS: Long-range ideas would be welcome

The Oklahoman Editorial Published: January 18, 2010

It would really be refreshing, as the legislative session approaches, to have someone - anyone - say they intend to spend time during the next several months trying to come up with ways to help Oklahoma thrive for the next many years.

In mid-January, David Blatt gave a presentation to a legislative advocacy meeting of the Oklahoma Library Association. KGOU taped the presentation and ran it as part of their Oklahoma Voices series on January 18, 2010. Click here to hear the audio presentation (MP3). The slides that formed the basis of the presentation can be viewed and downloaded here.