Tag: Oklahoma

July Numbers Bulletin shows what a rough year it's been

This week we released the July edition of Numbers You Need, our monthly bulletin of key economic and budget trends.  The monthly report contained some glimmers of good news, as the state’s unemployment rate rose by a relatively modest 0.1… Read more [More...]

Fewer Exceptions – Tobacco tax revenues rise while sales fall

Five years after voters approved a State Question increasing the tax on tobacco, there is good news to report: over the course of the recently completed fiscal year (FY ’09), tobacco sales in Oklahoma declined by 7.2 percent over the… Read more [More...]

Revenue figures: A tale of two half-years

Treasurer Scott Meacham today released revenue collections for the final month of the just-completed fiscal year, FY ’09. As was widely expected, the numbers were dismal: June General Revenue (GR) collections came in 30.1 percent below last year and 26.2… Read more [More...]

Media coverage of the welfare caseload puzzle

Ron Jenkins of the Associated Press wrote an article that ran this weekend picking up on OK Policy’s recent blog post examining the puzzle of why TANF cash assistance caseloads have been so slow to rise since the onset of… Read more [More...]

Mixed news on the unemployment front

Across the nation, the deep, prolonged economic recession is putting great strains on state Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs. Oklahoma is hardly immune from these challenges, but our problems are less severe than elsewhere. The combination of having entered the recession… Read more [More...]

New educational standards–do harder tests mean better outcomes?

The Oklahoma State Board of Education recently adopted higher testing standards for elementary and middle school students. According to the Tulsa World, the higher standards result from recommendations of a committee of educators and business representatives. This effort responded to… Read more [More...]

The Reverse Dust Bowl: Population growth in the Sooner State

We recently reported on how Oklahoma’s robust economic growth prior to the recent downturn vaulted the state from the poorest fifth of states early this decade, as measured by per capita personal income,  to the 28th spot in 2008. Further… Read more [More...]

Making Oklahoma taxes fairer–from our Online Guide

We’re getting closer to launching the OK Policy Online Guide to Oklahoma Budget and Taxes, a comprehensive resource for understanding state and local government finance in Oklahoma. Most of the guide is factual in nature–how we collect tax dollars, how… Read more [More...]

Starving the Beast: Government in lean times

As we’ve discussed in various blog posts and issue briefs, most state agencies received basically flat funding or were dealt budget cuts of 5 to 7 percent for the new fiscal year beginning July 1st, even as inflation leads to… Read more [More...]

Updates from Stimulusland

OK Policy is pleased to launch a new monthly Stimulus Update publication. Each month we will take a quick look at one set of federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA) programs. Each issue includes a short review… Read more [More...]