An OK Policy brief titled “Let There Be Light: Making Oklahoma’s Tax Expenditures More Transparent and Accountable” makes the case for increasing disclosure and scrutiny of tax expenditures, the array of exemptions, credits, deductions, and the like in the tax…
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By:
David Blatt
February 9, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
We may never have expected to see the day when the announcement that monthly revenue collections had come in 16.7 percent below the prior year and 20.8 percent below the certified estimate would be taken as good news. But after…
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By:
David Blatt
February 8, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Just before the start of the Legislative session, Governor Henry announced that he had reached an agreement with Speaker Benge and President Pro Tem Coffee on the FY ’10 budget. Faced with projected mid-year revenue shortfalls of slightly more than…
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By:
David Blatt
February 4, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
The January-February issue of the Atlantic Monthly magazine features an excellent cover article by editor James Fallow weighing the question of whether America has entered a period of terminal decline. On the one hand, he suggests that the nation’s crucial…
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By:
David Blatt
February 2, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
In Monday’s State of the State address, Governor Henry laid out the broad parameters of his FY ’11 Executive budget. The Governor’s speech likened our current fiscal storm to the severe weather the state has faced recently and so often…
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By:
David Blatt
January 27, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Our friends over at Oklahomans for Responsible Government have a blog post up on the FY ’10 budget agreement expressing dismay over the use of (an unspecified amount of) Rainy Day Funds to help cover this year’s revenue shortfall. They…
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In a press release Tuesday afternoon, Governor Brad Henry, Speaker Chris Benge and Senate Pro-Tem Glenn Coffee announced agreement on how to address the shortfalls in the FY ’10 budget that have resulted from this year’s revenues coming in sharply…
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By:
David Blatt
January 26, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
This month’s announcement of December General Revenue collections didn’t seem to provide much in the way of good news. Revenues for the month again came in around 30 percent below levels of one year ago (graph) and 30 percent below…
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By:
David Blatt
January 20, 2010 // Updated: May 2, 2019
Today’s Tulsa World has a strong editorial opposing legislative proposals to enact further restrictions on property taxes. For those who haven’t been following, this week has seen a public flare-up of a long-simmering internal battle within the House Republican caucus…
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By:
David Blatt
January 19, 2010 // Updated: May 1, 2019
Last week I attended the Stand Up for Seniors advocacy forum which focused on the impact the state’s worsening economic and fiscal situation is having on programs serving seniors. State Treasurer Scott Meacham was among the elected officials who addressed…
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