Recent Articles

Update: Rainy Day Fund 101

Last week, news broke that the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) had borrowed money from the Rainy Day Fund to make budget allocations to state agencies. The fund had a beginning balance of some $243 million, and OMES… Read more [More...]

Halt the next income tax cut – SB 170

As a result of continued declines in state revenues, another cut to Oklahoma’s top income tax rate will not be triggered in 2018. However, unless legislators take action this year, the top income tax cut rate could kick in automatically as… Read more [More...]

Ensure Better Information is Available about Who Pays Taxes – HB 2209

HB 2209 (Rep. Marcus McEntire – R. Duncan/Sen. AJ Griffin – R. Guthrie) is good legislation that would help promote better tax policy decisions in Oklahoma by ensuring that legislators and the public know more about who pays taxes and… Read more [More...]

Meet the new additions to our staff and board

Oklahoma Policy Institute is pleased to announce the addition of Courtney Cullison to its staff and Susan Chambers, MD to its Board of Directors. Courtney Cullison has been hired as a policy analyst focusing on issues of economic opportunity and… Read more [More...]

For the first time, lawmakers were found guilty of supplanting lottery funds for schools

Along with all of their other budget challenges, lawmakers this session will need to allocate an additional $10.1 million for the Education Lottery Trust Fund as the result of a determination made last month that lottery funds had been used… Read more [More...]

Budget Trends and Outlook — March 2017

[Download this fact sheet as a pdf.] Oklahoma faces another large budget hole next year. The State Equalization Board has certified $6.030 billion in available revenue for next year, which is $748 million less than this year’s initial appropriation. The… Read more [More...]

“Small loan” bill would mean big debts for Oklahoma families

For many Oklahomans in a financial trouble, payday loans can seem like a quick and easy fix. Borrowers can take out a payday loan for up to $500, secured by a post-dated check, usually for a period of 12 to… Read more [More...]

Committee Substitute

A committee substitute is a revised version of legislation proposed for consideration and adoption by a committee. The committee substitute replaces, in whole, the original bill that was referred to a committee, including conference committees. It is quite common for… Read more [More...]

Taxing services shouldn’t be all or nothing

A centerpiece of Gov. Mary Fallin’s FY 2018 Executive Budget is her proposal to expand the sales tax base on services. As she explained in her State of the State address: “As the economy in the United States has shifted… Read more [More...]

Budget Update: Key takeaways from the February Board of Equalization meeting

The State Board of Equalization met on February 21st to approve revised revenue estimates for FY 2017 and FY 2018. This estimate will be binding on the Legislature as it develops the FY 2018 budget over the coming months. Here are… Read more [More...]