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Learning from the crisis (2): Strengthening our reserve funds

As state leaders struggle to find solutions to this year’s revenue shortfalls and funding gaps, it is not too soon to draw lessons from the current state fiscal crisis to design policies that will allow us to respond better the… Read more [More...]

DHS Policy and Practice lecture series examines recession and recovery

On January 11th, Chad Wilkerson, the Branch Executive of the Oklahoma City office of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City will be giving a free public lecture on “The Economy Around Us: Recession and Recovery”. Wilkerson, who serves as… Read more [More...]

Learning from the crisis (1): More frequent and better forecasting can help guide a path

As state leaders struggle with how to manage the enormous budget shortfalls the state faces this year and next, the focus is understandably on decisions that must be made over the coming weeks and months.  But while short-term challenges are… Read more [More...]

OKC Educare: A Promising Start

In the heart of one of the poorest neighborhoods in Oklahoma City, in a state-of-the-art facility beside the railroad tracks, the smell of fresh-baked bread and cookies wafts down the halls, which wind around the building to simulate streets in… Read more [More...]

The crunch and the cliff: Medicaid funding faces dual perils

With Oklahoma in the midst of what is certain to be a severe and extended fiscal crisis, protecting core public services in every area of state government from deep and painful budget cuts poses a great challenge. However, protecting the… Read more [More...]

The Rainy Day Fund debate: Not if, but when…and how much?

If state fiscal conditions can be likened to the weather, it’s been apparent for many months that Oklahoma is in the midst of a toad strangler of a rain, to borrow the Tulsa World’s colorful characterization. Going into the current… Read more [More...]

Saved by the net: Food assistance programs help mitigate recession’s impact

This week we released the November issue of Numbers You Need (PDF), our monthly look at key data on the state’s economy  and budget. As we reported in the bulletin, one of the clearest signs of the depth and length… Read more [More...]

Should the poor pay more?

In Oklahoma, who pays the highest percentage of their income in taxes? Those with the lowest incomes do, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The state’s sales, excise and property taxes, which fall disproportionately on the… Read more [More...]

Consistent federal policies regarding Tribal Sovereignty help Oklahoma’s economy

Most people in this country today agree that indigenous tribes, who lived in the Americas before Europeans arrived, were treated less than fairly by their new neighbors. Unfortunately, the inequitable and inconsistent policies with regard to Native tribes are not… Read more [More...]

Crossing the Threshold: Families in poverty no longer paying state income tax

An interesting new report from our friends at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities looks at whether families with income below the federal poverty level (FPL) in each state are subject to state income taxes. It finds that for… Read more [More...]

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