Recent Articles

Private school tax credits will give everyone’s taxes to people who don’t need our help

While this program could make private and homeschooling more practical or affordable for a few families, taxpayers will mostly be paying for people to do what they were willing to pay for on their own. As a result, we’ll be handing millions of tax dollars to the most well-off among us while propping up private schools, whose enrollment has stagnated in recent years. [More...]

Vouchers: Another Wrong Turn for Oklahoma Schools

Oklahoma legislators are considering several unpredictable, expensive, and dangerous proposals to drastically change our state education policy. These proposals would use tax dollars to fund private education for fewer than 1 in 10 Oklahoma children and take funding from public schools. [More...]

Tax Day 2022–The view from VITA (Guest Post)

In the past, I’ve written Tax Day articles for OK Policy about a world without taxes. This year I’m celebrating Tax Day by describing my work helping dozens of Oklahomans file their federal and state income taxes through the VITA… Read more [More...]

It’s time to reopen Oklahoma’s budget process to the public

he public should be involved through public hearings and through the opportunity to comment — both in person and online — about budgets. Our state’s budget process won’t be this transparent until Oklahomans demand it. While many steps must be taken, moving back toward the more open and participative process of the 1990s would put us on the right track. [More...]

Working families got a little of the help they needed this session

Families are the backbone of our society and economy, but too many Oklahoma families cannot keep up. Many Oklahoma jobs pay less than a quarter of what it takes to support a family. [More...]

Wait and Hurry Up: Oklahoma’s Inside-Out Budget Process

Because budgets affect us all, both immediately and into the future, they should be made in public view with public input. While most states show this is easily accomplished, Oklahoma’s leaders neither inform nor engage the public in their budget deliberations.  [More...]

State budget actions tell us how well our democracy is working

Oklahoma is one of few states where there is currently no introduced budget and limited discussion of budget priorities. Oklahoma is likely to once again wait until late in the legislative session to introduce a budget and then to bypass regular legislative rules to pass a budget in just a week or two with little to no public debate. [More...]

“A Day Without Taxes … or, Be Careful What You Wish For”

Twelve years ago, I wrote this article to make a point about the essential role taxes play in our everyday lives. Since then, however, the real Oklahoma has moved closer to the one I feared in my dream. [More...]

We have better options than a costly and poorly-targeted income tax cut

Lawmakers should set aside both of these bills and have a broader discussion about whether it's more important to broadly cut taxes than to provide public services, invest in our state’s future, save for the next economic downturn, or provide better-targeted tax reduction. [More...]

Want to reduce Oklahoma’s public services, hurt local business, and shrink our economy? Eliminate the corporate income tax!

Oklahoma’s corporate income tax is good public policy. Forty-four states have corporate income taxes like Oklahoma’s, and all but two of the remaining states tax business revenues. [More...]