Surprise! States without an income tax have higher sales and property taxes

States without an income tax rely on other taxes to fund government. Far from discovering magical, revenue boosting powers by not having an income tax, these states simply charge higher sales and property taxes. A new report from the Center… Read more [More...]

Easier to shop in Kansas than move to Texas: Why replacing income tax with consumption tax is bad for Oklahoma's economy

Many state political and business leaders are clamoring to do away with Oklahoma’s personal income tax, the state’s single largest revenue source, while acknowledging the need to maintain sufficient tax revenue to fund basic services. One influential participant in the… Read more [More...]

Why Oklahoma needs an income tax

With the Governor and legislative leaders talking about doing away with Oklahoma’s state income tax, it’s worth taking a look at how the tax affects Oklahomans and why it is important. In an OK Policy fact sheet released today, we… Read more [More...]

The Weekly Wonk – May 13, 2011

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 at OK Policy we reviewed the state’s FY ’12 budget agreement on our blog.  We applaud leadership… Read more [More...]

New OK Policy report lays out options for protecting Oklahoma public services

In two years of recession and slow recovery, Oklahoma’s public services have struggled to get by with less. Oklahoma families, businesses and communities are feeling the impact in far-ranging ways, including increased class sizes, higher tuition rates, fewer mental health… Read more [More...]

More states push to end the Amazon tax loophole. Will Oklahoma join them?

The state budget crisis has put nearly all public services under intense scrutiny. With most state agencies taking cuts of 15 percent or higher, and more cuts expected, public officials have been forced to streamline operations, eliminating both waste and… 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...]

The Weekly Wonk – February 21-25, 2011

What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts. Our series on marriage promotion continued Monday with two perspectives from new staff, Kate Richey and Gene Perry.  The… Read more [More...]

Unfair, inefficient, and bad for business: Why Oklahoma needs sales tax reform

Oklahoma’s tax system is broken. Despite a recovering economy, the state is unable to raise enough revenue to sustain core public services. The strains will only increase over time as we cope with a rapidly aging population, unfunded pension obligations,… Read more [More...]

Bridging the gap (1): Revisiting the vendor sales tax discount

With state revenue collections seeing their steepest plunge in a generation, Oklahoma is enduring a tough year of state budget cuts that are already having a harmful effect on families, communities and the economy. However, while the severity of this… Read more [More...]