The fiscal cliff and working family tax credits

This originally appeared on the Tax Credits for Working Families blog on January 2nd and is reblogged with permission. While the national media covered every twist and turn in the fiscal cliff negotiations, little attention was paid to the provisions… Read more [More...]

The conservative anti-poverty program

In all of the major income tax proposals this year (including the plan announced yesterday by Senate Republicans), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has been targeted for elimination. That’s strange, because lawmakers have made no clear argument for why we should lose this… Read more [More...]

Why raise taxes on working families?

Lost amid much of the tax cut discussion has been the fact that proposals coming out of the legislature would actually increase taxes on hundreds of thousands of low- and moderate-income families. That’s because they could lose a host of… Read more [More...]

Who are the real losers in the tax shift plan? It's not "special interests"

[UPDATE: A previous version of the graph left out the Child Tax Credit from the list of broad-based credits that make up the 68 percent.] In a recent interview with KWGS, tax reform task force co-chair Senator Mike Mazzei argued:… Read more [More...]

Ken Miller: Rhetoric versus reality on tax incentives

Ken Miller is State Treasurer and a member of the the Task Force for the Study of Tax Credits and Economic Incentives.  This originally appeared as an article in the November Oklahoma Economic Report and is reprinted with permission. For… Read more [More...]

Beware the tax shift

An idea floating around in the tax reform debate has been to swap tax credits for a reduction in the top income tax rate. That’s one of the motivations behind the tax credit task force, which has looked at reigning… Read more [More...]

When you want something done, do it

Recently Maj. Gen. Rita Aragon, Oklahoma’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs, suggested that school gyms, playgrounds, and athletic fields should be opened to the public after hours. She argued that these “shared-use agreements” for public facilities would reduce obesity, especially in… Read more [More...]

Read This: A glossary of tax terminology

If all the recent talk about tax credits and exemptions and tax reform have left you scratching your head, you’re not alone.  Keeping up with the tax debate – and its accompanying jargon and terminology – can challenge even the… Read more [More...]

Rep. David Dank: On tax credits, the time for change is now

Rep. David Dank is co-chair of the Tax Credit Task Force. This is his opening statement to the Task Force’s meeting of November 9th. It is reprinted with permission and has been edited for length as indicated by […] The… Read more [More...]

Guest Blog (Scott Meacham): Rural and Small Business Credits are bad tax policy run amok

Scott Meacham is the former State Treasurer and former director of the Oklahoma Office of State Finance. He currently chairs the Oklahoma Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development and Taxation Committee. The Oklahoma legislature has struggled for decades with the best… Read more [More...]