Limiting itemized deductions would improve the fairness and adequacy of the state income tax

Earlier this year, we called attention to one of the stranger loopholes in the Oklahoma tax code, the case of the “double deduction” of state income taxes.  Federal tax law allows taxpayers who itemize their deductions to claim a deduction… Read more [More...]

New Report Urges Reform of Itemized Deductions

An August 2010 Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report looks at how the group of tax breaks known as “itemized deductions” cost states hundreds of millions of dollars each year while providing no benefit to the great majority of… Read more [More...]

State revenue glass: Half-full or half-empty?

Treasurer Scott Meacham today announced that General Revenue (GR) collections for the first month of the new state fiscal year, FY ’11, came in 9.9 percent above the prior year and 11.9 percent above the official certified estimate. The sales… Read more [More...]

While We Were Out: Debate over SQ 744 heats up

My decision to take vacation over the final week of July and first week of August allowed me to avoid not only some of the worst of the summer heat wave here in Oklahoma but also much of the heated… Read more [More...]

By the numbers: FY'10 revenues down..from FY'01

Last week, Treasurer Scott Meacham presented the preliminary data on full-year collections to the state’s General Revenue fund for FY ’10, which ended June 30th.  He emphasized both the magnitude of the decline in collections from the prior year –… Read more [More...]

SQ 744: The wrong solution

Today, Oklahoma Policy Institute released an issue brief exploring State Question 744, the proposal that will appear on the November ballot that would peg Oklahoma’s education spending to the regional average per pupil expenditure in six neighboring states. On our… Read more [More...]

Fat chance? Can soda taxes help solve the obesity epidemic and state budget woes?

A recent report released by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced the latest alarming figures about the spread of obesity in America. They found that last year in 31 states, including Oklahoma, more than… Read more [More...]

SQ 744

On November 2, 2010, Oklahomans will vote on SQ 744, a constitutional amendment that would peg the annual education budget in Oklahoma to the regional average per pupil expenditure in six neighboring states. OK Policy has released an issue brief… Read more [More...]

We’re in this together: Private sector suffers, too, from public sector decay

Last month I gave a presentation to a meeting of the State Chamber of Commerce along with a representative from another state policy organization.  I was struck, and frankly dismayed, by the extent to which my co-presenter  spoke as if… Read more [More...]

None of the above: The public weighs in on the state fiscal crisis

A new poll from the Pew Research Center presents interesting findings about the state of public opinion regarding the state fiscal crisis.  A late June poll of 1,001 adults found a majority of respondents saying that states should fix their… Read more [More...]