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In The Know is a daily synopsis of Oklahoma policy-related news and blogs. Inclusion of a story does not necessarily mean endorsement by the Oklahoma Policy Institute. You can sign up here to receive In The Know by e-mail.
Today you should know that Republican legislative leaders and the governor say they are optimistic about passing tax cuts and an overhaul the workers’ compensation system, but Senate President Brian Bingman said the Senate may consider more changes to the tax cut bill, such as eliminating or reducing tax credits or deductions. KJRH reported on why the proposed tax cut would do little for average Oklahomans. The Oklahoman editorial board responded to OK Policy’s arguments (seen in this blog post) against the need for another tax cut.
The Tulsa Chamber of Commerce remains cool to tax cuts, and Kurt Hochenauer points out that if tax cuts are going to be delayed, it would be more responsible to wait and see how well the economy is doing next year. Mickey Hepner writes that the state economy might not be as strong as some report. Higher education may face a $24 million shortfall unless the Legislature picks up the tab on debt restructuring.
The group studying Oklahoma’s options for covering the uninsured will likely present findings on May 9. The growing aging population in Tulsa and across the country is creating challenges in health care and housing. A high-stakes testing law may have put a high school diploma further out of reach for some of Oklahoma’s most profoundly disabled students, but federal officials ruled that it does not violate civil rights laws.
Panelists at a League of Women Voters forum agreed that Oklahoma needs to invest more in public education. StateImpact Oklahoma reported on Oklahoma’s increasingly crime-funded court system. Police have been called to a Tulsa DHS group home more than 200 times since 2009, including reports of sexual assaults, fights and runaways. An 11-year-old boy who died Sunday after being struck by a car was at least the second resident to die after running away from the facility.
The Number of the Day is the number of affordable homes and apartments in Oklahoma that were developed and financed under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. In today’s Policy Note, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shares their top five state tax charts.
In The News
Legislative leaders optimistic about tax cut, workers’ comp laws
Last-minute twists and turns have strained feelings, but Republican legislative leaders and the GOP governor say they are on track to reduce Oklahoma’s top personal income tax rate and overhaul the workers’ compensation system. All say they want to avoid what happened last year: Proposals to reduce the personal income tax and to change a part of the workers’ compensation system, both high priorities then as they are now, failed to advance. Senate President Brian Bingman said the Senate may consider more changes to the tax cut bill, such as eliminating or reducing tax credits or deductions.
Income tax cut would do little for average Oklahomans
According to the non-partisan, non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the proposed income tax cut currently being discussed by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and legislative leaders would add little cash to the pockets of Oklahomans. Much of the discussion has involved reducing the income tax from the current rate of 5.25 percent to 5 percent, a quarter of a percent cut. That cut, according to Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, would mean an extra $39 a year for median income earners, who are making less than $53,200.
See also: High tax states wouldn’t mind an economy like Oklahoma’s from NewsOK; Do we need another tax cut? from Oklahoma Policy Institute
Tulsa Chamber cool to tax cuts
Education, health care and economic development incentives took priority over income tax cuts at the Tulsa Regional Chamber legislative breakfast Friday morning. “(We) would ask for caution when looking into reducing income tax rates,” said Chris Benge, the former Oklahoma speaker of the House who is now senior now vice president of governmental affairs for the Chamber. “We would very much stress revenue neutrality.” The dozen or so Tulsa-area legislators in attendance seemed to generally agree with that sentiment. None made an impassioned case for an income tax cut, while several urged additional funding for such things as education and the Oklahoma State University Medical Center.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Searching for a tax cut, any tax cut
Gov. Mary Fallin, in what is becoming another desperate search for a tax cut, has dropped her demand for a tax decrease this coming year and says she’s open to proposals that would slash rates in 2015 and in subsequent years. House Speaker T.W. Shannon, a Lawton Republican, has also joined Fallin in a new show of openness and compromise over a Senate tax cut proposal. Both Shannon and Fallin had previously insisted on a tax cut for 2014. This is mixed news. While it’s encouraging Fallin and Shannon might be open to a delay in a cut and support some reform of the tax code, including the elimination of unneeded credits, it also begs this question: Why not just wait until next legislative session to cut taxes since the initial decrease wouldn’t go into effect until 2015? Wouldn’t it be more responsible to just wait and see how well the economy is doing next year?
State economy might not be as strong as some report
As Oklahoma thaws out from a spring ice storm, the latest state economic data doesn’t indicate that the state economy is thawing yet. Loyal readers might recall that despite the glowing comments on the state of the economy that have been coming from state officials, I’ve been warning for the past eight months of “dark clouds on the horizon of the Oklahoma economy.” Essentially, I’ve been concerned that the underlying fundamentals of the economy were not keeping pace with the glowing reviews from our state leaders. Now, the slowing Oklahoma economy is becoming more apparent in the state revenue figures.
Read more from the Edmond Sun.
Higher ed may face $24 million shortfall unless Legislature picks up the tab on debt restructuring
A $23.95 million higher education budget hole has state higher education officials worried they might end up taking the hit for a financing scheme to get the state through a tight budget cycle three years ago. In 2010, a $475 million bond package was refinanced and extended by five years. That move produced $100 million that the state used to fund endowed chairs at state colleges and universities. During the first three years, the state only had to pay interest costs on the bonds. With this year’s budget, the state becomes responsible for paying both principal and interest, raising the debt service to $23.95 million a year, she said. But Gov. Mary Fallin did not include money for the bond service in the budget she presented to the Legislature in February.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority to hear ‘Obamacare’ option in May
How to cover Oklahoma’s uninsured population is the $500,000 question. In January, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority paid a health care consulting firm that amount to come up with some options for how Oklahoma can provide insurance coverage for its uninsured residents. And come May, the firm might provide some answers. Nico Gomez, the chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said at the authority’s board meeting Thursday that Leavitt Partners will likely present some of its findings at the next board meeting on May 9.
As aging population grows, so do challenges for Tulsa, experts say
The growing aging population in Tulsa and across the country, sometimes referred to as the “silver tsunami,” is creating challenges in health care and housing, speakers said Thursday at a Tulsa Regional Chamber forum. The number of people in Tulsa County who are 65 or older has increased from 8.7 percent of the population in 1970 to 12.3 percent of the population in 2010 and is projected to reach 30 percent of the population by 2030, said Jan Figart, director of the Community Service Council of Greater Tulsa. More than half of people older than 65 are women, and more than 35 percent have some kind of disability.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Because of state testing requirements, high school diplomas may be out of reach of special needs students
A high-stakes testing law may have put a high school diploma further out of reach for some of Oklahoma’s most profoundly disabled students. Tulsa area legislators have been trying to raise awareness about a disadvantage they believe was created unintentionally, but for the parents and educators of the oldest special needs students in public schools, legislative relief can’t come soon enough. The Achieving Classroom Excellence law passed in 2005 but didn’t take effect until last year. It requires high-schoolers to pass at least four of seven core subject tests in addition to earning passing grades, with no exception – even for students with the cognitive abilities of an infant or toddler.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
See also: Oklahoma school testing rules don’t violate civil rights, feds rule from the Tulsa World
Forum panelists agree Oklahoma needs more money for public education
“Education is the energy source that fuels our economy.” “Oklahoma needs good paying jobs, a well-trained work force, and more college graduates.” “We have fallen behind in revenue for education.” “The proposed 2014 income tax cut will provide a $39 refund to the middle class and a $1,700 cut to those in the top 1% income bracket.” “Cutting taxes is the wrong thing to do.” “If students do not graduate from high school, we pay for them in other ways – through welfare or to keep them in prison.” These are a few statements from the five panelists who participated on April 9 in a League of Women Voter of OK panel discussion, connecting people in seven Oklahoma cities by closed circuit TV.
Read more from the Norman Transcript.
Oklahoma’s crime funded court system
Oklahoma doesn’t like to raise taxes, and in 1992 voters passed a state question that required massive legislative majorities to do so. But rising costs in the justice system still have to be paid for, somehow. Since then, the courts have turned to fees for funding more and more. There’s a $50 fee for summary judgements, a $349 jury fee in civil cases, a $20 court reporter fee. If you get a DUI, there’s a $400 fee. In fact, the DUI fee is higher than the fee for a murder conviction, which is only about $100. It’s the users of the court system, and more specifically the losers, who pay most of those fees, and many question the wisdom of that trend.
Listen to the story at StateImpact Oklahoma.
Tulsa police called to DHS group home 200 times since 2009
Police have been called to a Tulsa DHS group home more than 200 times since 2009, including reports of sexual assaults, fights and runaways, records show. An 11-year-old boy who died Sunday after being struck by a car was at least the second resident to die after running away from the facility, a Tulsa World review shows. A 16-year-old girl died in 2009 after running away from the home and being struck by a train. Mark Jackson, owner of Realation Community Services, said the group home shelters 16 boys and 16 girls at two former hotels in the 2200 block of West Skelly Drive.
Read more from the Tulsa World.
Quote of the Day
We would point out that taxes are just one of many factors that come into play whenever businesses are looking to locate to Oklahoma. Businesses … look at education, they look at transportation, they look at health care, they look at things like direct air service, availability of work force — just many, many factors, and taxes are just one of those factors.
–Chris Benge, the former Republican Speaker of the House who is now senior now vice president of governmental affairs for the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce
Number of the Day
26,295
The number of affordable homes and apartments in Oklahoma that were developed and financed under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, enacted in 1986
Source: A.C.T.I.O.N. (A Call To Invest in Our Neighborhoods)
See previous Numbers of the Day here.
Policy Note
Top Five State Tax Charts
To accompany our Top 10 Federal Tax Charts, here are five charts focusing on state tax issues. First, let’s look at what state taxes pay for. By far the largest areas of state spending, on average, are education (both K-12 and higher education) and health care, as the first chart, below, shows. But states also fund a wide variety of other services, including transportation, corrections, pension and health benefits for public employees, care for persons with mental illness and developmental disabilities, assistance to low-income families, economic development, environmental projects, state police, parks and recreation, housing, and aid to local governments.
Read more from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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