Oklahoma Policy Institute has been an active participant in the debate over the proposed elimination or reduction of the state personal income tax. Listed below are  presentations, fact sheets, blog posts, and other information we've prepared related to tax reform, as well as links to media coverage of the issue. 

Take Action page

Questions and Answers about the Tax Plan Agreement - Updated 5-21-2012

Side By Side Comparison of Major Tax Cut Proposals - Updated 5-2-2012

Poll shows Oklahomans oppose tax cut plans

Economist Forum: Eliminating the Income Tax: Silver Bullet or Fool's Gold? April 5, 2012

Tax Cut Skeptics - Notable Quotes

Videos

• The Economy Bowl - 1-minute animated video comparing the Oklahoma and Texas economies
• Eliminating The Income Tax: Silver Bullet or Fool's Gold Highlights - 10-minute highlight reel from our forum of Oklahoma economists and economic developers
• Eliminating The Income Tax: Silver Bullet or Fool's Gold Full - Full two-hour forum
• Why raise taxes on working families? - 4-minute video sharing personal stories of how Oklahomans would be affected by the loss of broad-based tax credits
• Why raise taxes on working families? - 39 second version
• State Chamber Tax Debate - Tax policy debate between Dr. Mickey Hepner and Dr. Arthur Laffer, moderated by State Treasurer Ken Miller

Fact Sheets

• Don't Pay for Tax Cuts on the Backs of Working Oklahoma Families  [HTML Version]
• Why It's Critical to Save the Income Tax, and What You Can Do Today  [HTML Version]
• 9 Reasons Why Oklahoma Should Preserve the State Income Tax  [HTML Version] (earlier version available in Spanish)
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Rural Oklahoma  [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Public Education  [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Higher Education   [HTML Version]
• Why the Income Tax is Critical to Business and Economic Development in Oklahoma   [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Health Care   [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Seniors   [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical to Low-Income Oklahomans   [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Oklahoma's Children   [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income Tax is Critical for Oklahomans with Disabilities  [HTML Version]
• Why Saving the Income tax is Critical for Public Safety in Oklahoma  [HTML Version]
• Don't Be Fooled by Junk Economics (February 2012): A 1-page fact sheet summarizing major problems with the analysis by Arthur Laffer that is being used by proponents of abolishing Oklahoma's personal income tax.
• Budget Trends and Highlights (April 2012): The recession, ongoing phase-in of tax cuts, and proliferation of tax exemptions led to precipitous revenue declines in FY ’09 and FY ’10, which we have only partially recovered from.
• 10 Things You Should Know About Oklahoma's Budget and Tax System (June 2011): Here are ten facts to help anyone better understand Oklahoma's budget and tax system. A great conversation starter!

Click here for more fact sheets in the archives

Issue Briefs

• The "Tax Cut" Bait and Switch (April 2011): How losing broad-based tax credits to make way for cuts to the top income tax rate would harm average Oklahomans
• The Case for the Income Tax (November 2011): This 8-page issue brief explains why repealing or reducing the state income tax is ill-advised.
• Fixing the Sales Tax: Options for Reform (February 2011): The sales tax is the largest single source of state and local tax revenue but is increasingly falling short.
• Shining the Light on Tax Breaks (February 2010): An OK Policy brief makes the case for increasing disclosure and scrutiny of tax expenditures, the array of exemptions, credits, deductions, and the like in the tax code that allow taxes not to be paid when they otherwise would.

Reports and Proposals

• Tax Credits Description (April 2012) 
• The Deteriorating Relationship between Oklahoma State Tax Collections and Personal Income (Dr. Robert Dauffenbach and Dr. Larkin Werner, April 2012)
• The Texas Economic Model: Hard for Other States to Follow and Not All That It Seems (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, April 2012)
• Without a State Income Tax, Other Taxes are Higher (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 2012)
• The Voodoo Economics of Phasing Our Oklahoma's Personal Income Tax (Dr. Kent Olson, Oklahoma State University, March 2012)
• Putting Real Economics into an Economic Assessment of the Oklahoma Income Tax (Dr. Jonathan Willner, Oklahoma City University, March 2012)
• The Flawed Case for Eliminating Personal Income Taxation in Oklahoma (Dr. Cynthia Rogers, University of Oklahoma, March 2012)
• Arthur Laffer Regression Analysis is Fundamentally Flawed - Institute onTaxation and Economic Policy (February 2012)
• 'Don't Be Fooled by Junk Economics' - Response to Laffer Income Tax Proposal from the Institute onTaxation and Econmic Policy (Feb 2012)
• Governor Fallin's Tax Plan (Feb 2012)
• List of Tax Credits to Eliminate - Governor's Plan (Feb 2012)
• Tax Reform Task Force Report (Dec 2011)
• OCPA - Arthur Laffer Plan to Eliminate the Income Tax (Feb. 2012)

Op-Eds/Blog Posts/Press Releases

• Flawed trigger proposal could create serious unintended consequences (May 2012)
• Tax cut proposal Q&A (May 2012)
• STATEMENT: Tax deal sets wrong priorities for Oklahoma (May 2012)
• Business leaders urge rejection of tax triggers (May 2012)
• The conservative anti-poverty program (May 2012)
• STATEMENT: Senate Republican tax plan makes progress but still puts unfair burden on working families (May 2012)
• Politicians make bad fortune tellers (May 2012)
• Heed call for children (David Blatt, May 2012)
• New poll shows Oklahomans oppose tax cut proposals (May 2012)
• Why raise taxes on working families? (May 2012)
• In This Together (David Blatt, May 2012)
• Poll Dancing: Advocates exaggerate public support for tax cuts (May 2012)
• Tax credits worth saving (Gene Perry, May 2012)
• Tax cuts of the mid-2000's did not spark revenue growth (April 2012)
• No 'Laffing' matter (David Blatt, April 2012)
• Who's behind the assault on income tax? (April 2012)
• The terrible thing about triggers (Gene Perry, April 2012)
• The sure path to prosperity is higher education, not tax cuts (David Blatt, April 2012)
• Evidence and ideology: Beyond Econ 101 (Steve Ellis, April 2012)
• Anti-tax group's flawed 'research' (Lynne Shaw, April 2012)
• Taxes are essential for Oklahoma's quality of life (Ken Fergesen, April 2012)
• The 'Texas model' is not al it seems and hard to follow (Elizabeth McNichol, April 2012)
• The 'tax cut' bait-and-switch (April 2012)
• Stand back! We don't know how big these things may get (March 2012)
• Surprise! States without an income tax have higher sales and property taxes (March 2012)
• Pay-as-you-Go is a promising approach to fiscal responsibility (March 2012)
• Oklahoma economists give Laffer a failing grade (March 2012)
• Economics 102 (Mar 2012)
• Fallin off a cliff (Mar 2012)
• Betting the Farm: Ending the income tax creates huge risks for rural Oklahoma (Mar. 2012)
• Tax Foundation ranks Oklahoma among lowest tax states for business (Mar. 2012)
• STATEMENT: Troubling new details emerge about Governor Fallin's tax plan (Feb. 2012)
• What the income tax pays for (Feb. 2012)
• Stuck in a Hole: What flat funding means for the education budget (Feb. 2012)
• How Oklahoma is falling behind (Feb. 2012)
• No leg left to stand on: Laffer debunked again (Feb. 2012)
• The Myth about Oklahoma's tax system that we keep repeating (Feb. 2012)
• Laffer Debunked: States without an income tax do not enjoy stronger economic growth (Feb. 2012)
• STATEMENT: Governor Fallin’s plan to end income tax would bust huge hole in the state budget (Feb. 2012)
• Tax elimination talk ignored huge needs (Tulsa World op-ed, Jan. 2012)
• Cutting the income tax is wrong approach for Oklahoma (Oklahoman op-ed, Jan. 2012)

Click here for more op eds/blog posts/ press releases from the archives

Presentations

• Presentation to the Oklahoma Task Force on Comprehensive Tax Reform (September 2011): Oklahoma Policy Institute presented to this legislative task force on September 15, 2011. You can view the presentation on our website or download it as a PDF.

Media Coverage

• Jonathan Willner, an Economist at OCU, Rejects Calls by OK Politicians to Delete the State Income Tax (Public Radio Tulsa, March 30, 2012)
• Oklahoma governor holds out hope for state personal income tax cut of at least 1 percent (Oklahoman, March 30, 2012)
• Don't base decisions on 'voodoo economics' (Oklahoman, March 23, 2012)
• LETTER: Business activity may not increase if income tax is eliminated (NewsOK, March 18, 2012)
• Oklahoma Treasurer urges caution in cutting state's personal income tax rate (NewsOK, March 18, 2012)
• Tax talk at legislative luncheon (Ardmoreite, March 11, 2012)
• Okla. think -tank pushes for more spending cuts (Associated Press, March 8, 2012)
• Retirees raise concerns about income tax-cutting proposals before Oklahoma lawmakers (Oklahoman, March 11, 2012)
• LETTER: Income tax plan may hurt low-income families (Edmond Sun, March 8, 2012)
• A Senate bill phases out incentives that lure filmmakers to the state (Oklahoma Gazette, March 7, 2012)
• Save Our History (Urban Tulsa Weekly, March 7, 2012)
• State income tax needed for schools, infrastructure, social services (Oklahoman, March 7, 2012)
• Editorial: 'Right-size government' a fallacy (Tulsa World, March 7, 2012)
• Oklahoma lawmaker asks, whose voices matter most at Capitol? (Oklahoman, March 2, 2012)
• State treasurer offers tax-cutting advice (Tulsa World, March 3, 2012)
• Oklahoma's state budgeting system could use more vision (Oklahoman, March 4, 2012)
• Oklahoma governor's income tax reduction plan wins house committee approval (Oklahoman, March 1, 2012)
• Tax cut fever (Tulsa World, February 26, 2012)
• Boom in no-tax states overstated by tax cut proponents (Oklahoman, February 24, 2012)
• Oklahoma House Speaker Steele says any tax cut must be revenue neutral (Tulsa World, February 24, 2012)
• Oklahoma Governor's tax cut plan neither simple nor universally endorsed (Oklahoman, February 23, 2012)
• Personal spending piece of tax cut hype is problematic (Oklahoman, February 17, 2012)
• Gov. Fallin's tax plan is one big mistake (Norman Transcript, February 13, 2012)
• Not time to experiment with state taxes (Norman Transcript, February 12, 2012)
• Tax-cut talk stymies state's rating improvement (Tulsa World, February 11, 2012)
• On the hunt for corporate Oklahoma expats in Texas (StateImpact Oklahoma, February 7, 2012)
• Income tax debate ratchets up in Oklahoma (Tulsa World, January 29, 2012)
• Legislative leaders in Oklahoma urge caution in reducing or eliminating state personal income tax rate (NewsOK, January 27, 2012)
• Tax proposal burdens poor, middle class (Edmond Sun, January 20, 2012)
• Some members of Oklahoma tax-reform task force repudiate proposals (Tulsa World, January 8, 2012)
• Timing wrong for Fallin's tax cut plan (Muskogee Phoenix, January 26, 2012)

Click here for more media coverage from the archives