The Weekly Wonk – February 3rd, 2012

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. This week OK Policy and the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) co-released the 2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, which… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk – March 4, 2011

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. While tax day is still over a month away, the state tax structure got some serious attention this week… Read more [More...]

There's something happening here: The new Oklahoma political media landscape

Two years ago this month, the Oklahoman and Tulsa World announced a content-sharing agreement in which each paper would carry some stories created by the other. The papers also said they would “focus on reducing some areas of duplication, such… Read more [More...]

SQ 746: Would voter ID proposal solve a problem or create one?

Everyone would agree that the right to vote is one of the most basic and cherished freedoms in a democracy. A ballot measure facing Oklahoma’s voters in November, SQ 746, raises the question of whether protecting the right to vote… Read more [More...]

While We Were Out: Debate over SQ 744 heats up

My decision to take vacation over the final week of July and first week of August allowed me to avoid not only some of the worst of the summer heat wave here in Oklahoma but also much of the heated… Read more [More...]

Bears repeating: Are tax cuts responsible for the state's budget woes?

This week, the Oklahoman’s editorial board revisited the question of whether the state’s budget crisis is the result of the large and permanent tax cuts enacted during the mid-2000’s when the economy was booming and state revenues were soaring.  The… Read more [More...]

Citizens for Tax Justice questions Oklahoman's defence of state income tax break

Last week, the Oklahoman published a “Tax Day” editorial addressing OK Policy’s recent contributions to the debate on the state budget crisis. They began by emphasizing our common ground: Along with the Oklahoma Policy Institute’s David Blatt, we’ve been urging… Read more [More...]

It pays to recycle: Lessons from the Budget Crisis

Just a quick post to let you know that the Oklahoman today ran an op-ed setting out the policy proposals we have developed for managing budget downturns. The op-ed was based on the full issue brief and 1-page summary we… Read more [More...]

Tax cuts and consequences

Plunging state tax collections are wreaking havoc on the state budget and having increasingly painful effects on public services in Oklahoma. Initial estimates were for tax collections for the current year, FY ‘10, to be more than $600 million below… Read more [More...]

Man, oh, man – The downturn hammers male employment

The Oklahoman recently ran an editorial calling attention to the especially heavy toll that the current recession is having on male workers nationally and here in Oklahoma. A new issue brief from Economic Policy Institute, using data from the Bureau… Read more [More...]