Topic: Budget & Tax

Task force proposal would raise taxes on most Oklahomans, especially harm seniors and families with children

By: Gene Perry
January 11, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
A proposal by the legislature’s tax reform task force would raise taxes for most Oklahomans, with the worst impact on low-income seniors and families with children, according to a new fact sheet from the Oklahoma Policy Institute. The task force… Read more [More...]

The Tax Shift: Income tax proposal would hike taxes for most Oklahomans

By: Oklahoma Policy Institute
January 10, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
A new fact sheet released today by the Oklahoma Policy Institute shows that the legislature’s tax reform task force proposal would raise taxes for 55 percent of Oklahomans. Low-income seniors and families with children would be especially harmed by the… Read more [More...]

Task Force proposes tax hike on poor and middle class to benefit the wealthiest

By: Gene Perry
December 30, 2011 // Updated: May 2, 2019
This afternoon, the Senate Task Force on Comprehensive Tax Reform released its final report. The most significant recommendation is to make further cuts to the top rate and replace that revenue by ending numerous tax credits. Almost two-thirds of the… Read more [More...]

Growing disconnect between budget politics and reality

By: Paul Shinn
December 29, 2011 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Last week we reported that next year’s revenues are expected to be 7 percent below their levels of six years ago (FY ’07), even though costs are higher due to inflation, population growth, and increased caseloads Elsewhere, people seem to… Read more [More...]

Revenue forecast confirms need for caution

By: David Blatt
December 21, 2011 // Updated: May 1, 2019
On Tuesday, the Board of Equalization certified a preliminary estimate of the revenues available for next year’s budget. The numbers confirm that while the worst of the fiscal crisis is over, the state is experiencing a slow, incomplete recovery that… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma ranked 6th in the nation for tax break safeguards, but serious gaps remain

By: Gene Perry
December 14, 2011 // Updated: May 2, 2019
States are spending billions of dollars per year on corporate tax credits, cash grants and other economic development subsidies that often require little if any job creation and lack wage and benefit standards covering workers at subsidized companies. These are… Read more [More...]

Report tracks how large corporations avoid state taxes

By: Gene Perry
December 7, 2011 // Updated: May 2, 2019
A comprehensive new study finds that many consistently profitable companies are paying little to no corporate income taxes on those profits. Out of 265 Fortune 500 companies examined, 68 managed to pay no state income tax in at least one… Read more [More...]

Ken Miller: Rhetoric versus reality on tax incentives

By: David Blatt
December 6, 2011 // Updated: May 2, 2019
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

By: Gene Perry
December 5, 2011 // Updated: May 2, 2019
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

By: Gene Perry
November 29, 2011 // Updated: May 2, 2019
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...]