1. Workforce and infrastructure matter to businesses. An educated workforce, good public schools, stable transportation systems, and safe communities rank higher than state taxes in surveys of what businesses look for when they expand or relocate. Cutting our single largest…
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1. More educated citizens lead to a more prosperous state. Increasing the number of college graduates is vital to our prosperity in a knowledge-driven economy. Oklahoma currently ranks 43rd in the nation in the percentage of the population with a…
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1. Oklahoma’s income tax is important to balance regressive sales and property taxes. Low-income Oklahomans already pay a higher share of their income in taxes than do wealthier families. They pay the most in sales taxes, property taxes on their…
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1. Income tax is essential to funding seniors’ programs. Income tax provides one-third of all state revenue. State programs that serve seniors, including Medicaid, senior nutrition services, adult day services, adult protective services, and others can not be funded adequately…
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1. Income tax is essential to health care funding. One-third of all state tax revenue is from the income tax and nearly $500 million in income tax dollars support health care programs for low-income children, seniors, and persons with disabilities…
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By:
Gene Perry
April 30, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Four months ago, a legislative task force chaired by Rep. David Dank and Sen. Mike Mazzei laid out an ambitious agenda for reforming Oklahoma’s tax expenditures. The group’s recommendations included ending tax credit transferability, enacting caps, sunsets, and regular audits…
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[NOTE: This post has been corrected to fix an error in the units used when describing the price of oil.]
Despite frequent claims by proponents of cutting or eliminating Oklahoma’s personal income tax , it is a myth that tax…
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Economists
Kent Olson, Professor of Economics Emeritus, Oklahoma State University: “With full accountability, authors of tax cut legislation would have to specify how the cuts would be offset. If this were the practice, I believe we’d have a discussion about…
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Earlier this month, rival events on the income tax debate presented an illuminating contrast. OK Policy’s forum featured economists from Oklahoma public and private universities, as well as economic development experts from the state Department of Commerce and the OKC,…
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By:
Gene Perry
April 18, 2012 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Lawmakers began the year promising large, immediate cuts to the income tax, but their hopes soon collided with budget reality. With state funding already falling behind Oklahoma’s needs in many areas, legislators have found no easy way to pay for…
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