OKPOLICY.ORG
What’s up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk is dedicated to this week’s events, publications, and blog posts.
This week we released a new report explaining why plans to cut the income tax are threatening tax benefits for hundred of thousands of Oklahoma families. This blog post shows that the biggest costs of such tax cuts fall on low- and moderate-income taxpayers, especially families with children and seniors. At a forum hosted by OKPolicy, the state’s top economists and economic developers warned of irreversible damage to Oklahoma’s economic health if the income tax is phased out.
We shared data showing that Oklahoma is attracting businesses and creating jobs, income tax and all. We posted a guest blog on why a “Texas model” for the economy is not all it’s cracked up to be. Finally this week, click here for an updated version of our take on Oklahoma’s fiscal outlook.
In the Know, Policy Notes
- The Center for Economic and Policy Research shows that low-wage workers are older and better-educated than ever.
- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why the Tax Foundation’s “Tax Freedom Day” report is deeply misleading about how much taxes families actually pay.
- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains why the Texas economic model is hard for other states to follow and not all it’s cracked up to be.
- The Earth Policy Institute shows that wind power is growing much faster than other major sources of electricity.
- Citizens for Tax Justice explained who pays taxes, including all of the taxes that most Americans are subject to — federal payroll taxes, federal excise taxes, state and local taxes, and the federal personal income tax.
- 14.7% – Voter turnout in the 2012 primary elections in Oklahoma, 7th highest of the 35 states that have already held their primary contests
- 48th – Oklahoma’s national rank for the first year retention rate of our colleges and universities; 28 percent of the state’s students do not enroll in a second consecutive year of higher education.
- $297 million – Amount the state owes to oil and gas companies for horizontal and deep well drilling tax credits accrued in 2010 and 2011.
- 32.3% – Percentage of jobs in Oklahoma that are ‘low-wage jobs (median annual pay below $21,954), 6th highest in the nation in 2010
- 36,000,000 – Tons of animal waste produced annually in Oklahoma, 7th in the nation in 2007
