Topic: Budget & Tax

Oklahoma entering budget crisis with easy savings already squeezed out (Capitol Updates)

By: Steve Lewis
January 29, 2016 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]

Balanced solutions to Oklahoma’s budget emergency

By: David Blatt
January 26, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
If we try to solve our budget crisis by doubling down on budget cuts and one-time revenues, we will only inflict greater damage to our economy and to the well-being of Oklahomans. We can solve this crisis through a more balanced approach that includes new recurring revenues... Read more [More...]

The Kansas tax cut experiment has a close cousin in Oklahoma

By: Gene Perry
January 25, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
On January 28th, OK Policy’s annual State Budget Summit will include a keynote presentation on “The Failed Kansas Experiment.” In 2012, Kansas enacted major income tax cuts and totally eliminated the personal income tax for owners of certain businesses. Kansas… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s oncoming budget shortfall could be worse than the Great Recession (Capitol Updates)

By: Steve Lewis
January 15, 2016 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Steve Lewis served as Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1989-1991. He currently practices law in Tulsa and represents clients at the Capitol. You can sign up on his website to receive the Capitol Updates newsletter by email.… Read more [More...]

Tax cuts now reducing state revenues by over $1 billion per year

By: David Blatt
January 12, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
A new report by OK Policy finds that the cost of state income tax cuts since the mid-2000s has grown to over $1 billion annually. Repeated tax cuts and shrinking state budgets have left state services severely weakened, even before… Read more [More...]

The Cost of Tax Cuts in Oklahoma

By: Gene Perry
// Updated: May 2, 2019
Repeated income tax cuts since the mid-2000s have reduced state revenues by more than $1 billion annually. These cuts are eroding important public services and threatening Oklahoma’s economic well-being... Read more [More...]

What you can do with your tax cut

By: Gene Perry
January 7, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
On January 1st, Oklahoma made the latest in a series of cuts to the top income tax rate. The cut is happening even though we are facing a massive budget hole and a mid-year revenue failure.  This tax cut is… Read more [More...]

Leadership failure

By: David Blatt
January 1, 2016 // Updated: May 2, 2019
An earlier version of this post appeared in the Journal Record Today, as Oklahomans gather together to enjoy the first day of  the new year by watching Bowl Games, feasting on black-eyed peas, and nursing hangovers, two significant and seemingly… Read more [More...]

Making sense of the mid-year “revenue failure”

By: David Blatt
December 23, 2015 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Today Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger officially declared a revenue failure, triggering $176.9 million in cuts in agency allocations for the current budget year, FY 2016. The revenue failure is the result of revenue collections coming in well below the official… Read more [More...]

Statement: Budget emergency won’t be solved by doubling down on cuts

By: Gene Perry
December 15, 2015 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Oklahoma Policy Institute released the following statement in response to official projections that Oklahoma will enact midyear budget cuts this year and is expecting a $900.8 million budget hole next year: The projected mid-year cuts and next year’s massive budget… Read more [More...]