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What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
This Week from OK Policy
Increasing Oklahoma’s minimum wage creates positive impacts for all Oklahomans, especially American Indians: Oklahoma has one of the nation’s highest poverty rates, with nearly 1 in 6 residents living in poverty. The state’s minimum wage is a contributing factor to our long-standing poverty. Wage compensation has significant consequences for Oklahoma and especially rural Oklahomans of color. American Indian, Latino, and Black Oklahomans experience poverty rates higher than both Oklahomans on the whole or their white peers. [Vivian Morris / OK Policy]
Three things needed to reform education in Oklahoma (Capitol Update): A group of education leaders and others from across the state are organizing an effort to improve Oklahoma’s schools under the name Advance Oklahoma’s Kids. They are gathering input through a short online survey, community forums, and listening sessions to develop a policy agenda they’re calling Better Outcomes for Oklahoma’s Schools, or BOOK, that harkens back to the 1990 education reform package known as House Bill 1017. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update]
Weekly What’s That
The individual income tax is Oklahoma’s largest single revenue source for state government. Oklahoma first levied an income tax in 1915. The top income tax rate has been cut repeatedly since the late 1990s, and most recently was lowered to 4.75 percent as of 2022. Oklahoma has a graduated income tax, with multiple tax brackets; however, the top rate applies to all taxable income above just $7,200 for an individual or $12,200 for a married couple filing jointly or single head of household. Numerous deductions and credits can reduce state taxable income, including the standard deduction, personal exemption, earned income tax credit, child tax credit, and others.
The individual income tax is paid to the state in annual or quarterly payments or in withholdings from wages and other payments. Taxpayers file a return in April to settle the tax liability or credit for the previous year.
As of FY 2025, the lion’s share of individual income tax collections (85.41 percent) are apportioned to the General Revenue Fund, with the remainder divided between the 1017 Fund (8.34 percent), the Teachers’ Retirement Fund (5.25 percent) and the Ad Valorem Reimbursement Fund (1.00 percent).
Individual income tax collections totaled $4.393 billion in FY 2023.
Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here.
Quote of the Week
“Poverty is a policy choice. When Oklahoma lawmakers keep the state’s minimum wage at its lowest possible rate, it ensures that our state’s low-wage workers will continue to struggle to make ends meet. Oklahoma can and should address it by raising the minimum wage.”
– OK Policy Tribal-State Policy Analyst Vivian Morris [OK Policy]
Editorial of the Week
Editorial: Elections are for the American people, not political parties
Elections in America are for the people, not political parties, and a citizen’s petition effort would bring that principle back to Oklahoma ballots.
Voters have a chance to realign Oklahoma’s elections with a unified ballot, which the grassroots group Oklahoma United is putting through a citizen petition process. If all goes without a hitch, voters will decide on State Question 835 in November 2026.
The change would make state elections resemble municipal and school board elections. It’s simple: Anyone who wants to run for state office would put their name forward with their political designation, and every eligible voter would select from the ballot of all candidates. The top two winners would move to a general election.
That could result in two Republicans, two Democrats, one of each or an independent or Libertarian making the final ballot. Importantly, all voters would have a chance to choose from all candidates. [Read the full editorial from Tulsa World]
Numbers of the Day
- 90% – Black women in the U.S. have approximately 90 percent less wealth than white men, and working Black women have 29 percent less earnings on average. Over a 40-year career, these gaps can result in losses of nearly $1 million in pre-tax earnings, on average, for Black women compared with white men. [Urban Institute]
- 1 in 14 – By age 14, 1 in 14 U.S. children experiences a resident parent leaving for jail or prison. [Society for Research in Child Development]
- $63.5 billion – Native American women in the United States are typically paid just 52 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. Native American women lose almost $63.5 billion to the wage gap every year. [National Partnership for Women and Families]
What We’re Reading
- State Tax Policy Should Adopt the Principles of ‘Black Women Best’: With most elections over, state lawmakers are preparing for 2025 legislative sessions, and this means a new slate of tax policy proposals is on the horizon. This class of elected officials is in a tough position because of the decisions of their predecessors. Years of drastic tax cuts mean states have fewer dollars to fund new projects or invest in existing services, like education, transportation, and healthcare. This will make it more difficult to maintain programs that benefit everyone. However, there is an approach legislators can use to lift those left behind in the economy who bear the brunt of these harmful tax cuts. The Black Women Best framework provides legislators a novel way to pinpoint the devastating harms of some tax proposals so they can instead propose sensible solutions to today’s economic problems. [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy]
- I grew up visiting my mom in prison. Here’s what schools should know about students like me: It is deeply traumatic to be separated from your parent and to worry about their well-being. It can also be very isolating. I remember feeling like I was the only one going through maternal incarceration, unaware that many thousands of kids around the country were experiencing the same thing. We need support and community, yet one of the biggest challenges is that students often don’t know what resources are available or how to access them. [Chalkbeat]
- How the Government Can End Poverty for Native American Women: Policymakers have a plethora of programs and tools that, when layered to meet the unique needs of specific communities, can be truly transformational for Native women in the labor force. When equal pay measures are enacted alongside other social safety net and work support policies—such as access to health care, paid family and medical leave, quality and affordable child and elder care, and an increased minimum wage—Native women can not only gain pay equity but also build lasting economic security their families. [Center for American Progress]
