When lawmakers sign a pledge, who are they working for?

When we elect someone to public office, should we expect them to use their best judgment in making decisions about the public interest? Or should they adhere to the dictates of outside groups that always take the most simplistic and… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s Individual Income Tax Basics

A new fact sheet from Oklahoma Policy Institute explains the basic of Oklahoma’s individual income tax. The income tax is the largest source of state revenue, making up about one-third of all tax collections. The fact sheet explains three important… Read more [More...]

How the tax incentives war puts states in a terrible bargaining position

Last week, 17 of the top business executives from the Kansas City area made an unexpected request to the governors of Kansas and Missouri – they asked to end tax incentives for their businesses. The letter describes competing incentives as… Read more [More...]

The 5 percent solution?

After two straight years of cuts, the state’s budget situation remains dire. Despite the economic recovery and improving revenue collections, the state faces a huge shortfall for next year. The substantial non-recurring revenues that were used to balance the budget… Read more [More...]

Bill would raise taxes for 1 million low-income Oklahomans

As we pointed out in an earlier post, there is more than one way to cut taxes. We can do it in a way that mostly benefits those with the highest incomes, as is the case with cutting the top… Read more [More...]

A day without taxes

As the deadline for filing income tax approaches, we return to a favorite blog post from our friend Paul Shinn that we first ran in 2009. You may also enjoy this video tribute to the many things we can be… Read more [More...]

New OK Policy report lays out options for protecting Oklahoma public services

In two years of recession and slow recovery, Oklahoma’s public services have struggled to get by with less. Oklahoma families, businesses and communities are feeling the impact in far-ranging ways, including increased class sizes, higher tuition rates, fewer mental health… Read more [More...]

Protecting Core Services: Revenue Options for a Balanced Budget

With next year’s certified revenues over $500 million less than current year appropriations, deeper budget cuts that could seriously impact the well-being of Oklahoma businesses, families and communities are looming. An OK Policy issue brief makes the case that in… Read more [More...]

Quick Take: March revenue collections

Yesterday, State Finance Director Preston Doerflinger announced that March General Revenue (GR) collections came in 9.3 percent above March 2010 and 10.5 percent above the certified estimate.  This marked the 11th straight month that GR showed improvement over the prior… Read more [More...]

More states push to end the Amazon tax loophole. Will Oklahoma join them?

The state budget crisis has put nearly all public services under intense scrutiny. With most state agencies taking cuts of 15 percent or higher, and more cuts expected, public officials have been forced to streamline operations, eliminating both waste and… Read more [More...]