The FY 2022 budget reverses service cuts but remains at among lowest level in decades. The budget reflects a dramatic, if short-term, turnaround from last year.
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The $8.3 billion budget represents a modest increase from last year’s pandemic low. However, rather than trying to change Oklahoma’s overall trajectory through smart spending choices, lawmakers enacted tax cuts that will largely benefit out-of-state corporations, high-income households, and special interests.
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By:
Paul Shinn
April 26, 2021 // Updated: April 26, 2021
Oklahoma is one of few states where there is currently no introduced budget and limited discussion of budget priorities. Oklahoma is likely to once again wait until late in the legislative session to introduce a budget and then to bypass regular legislative rules to pass a budget in just a week or two with little to no public debate.
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By:
Paul Shinn
April 7, 2021 // Updated: April 6, 2021
Lawmakers should set aside both of these bills and have a broader discussion about whether it's more important to broadly cut taxes than to provide public services, invest in our state’s future, save for the next economic downturn, or provide better-targeted tax reduction.
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By:
Paul Shinn
March 19, 2021 // Updated: March 19, 2021
Oklahoma’s corporate income tax is good public policy. Forty-four states have corporate income taxes like Oklahoma’s, and all but two of the remaining states tax business revenues.
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By:
Paul Shinn
December 18, 2020 // Updated: March 16, 2021
The State Board of Equalization provided the revenue certification that will serve as the basis for Oklahoma’s budget year that starts July 1, 2021 (FY 2022). The news was better than expected, but doesn’t suggest the state’s long-term budget slide is over.
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By:
Paul Shinn
June 2, 2020 // Updated: July 10, 2020
State agencies will be appropriated a total of $7.715 billion in FY 2021. This is a decrease of $283.2 million (3.5 percent) compared to the initial FY 2020 budget approved last May, and just $46 million (0.6 percent) above FY 2019 (see Figure 1).
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In what was likely the most unusual — and contentious — budget process in state history, the Legislature passed the state budget for FY 2021, which starts on July 1. Most allocations to agencies are in the state’s General Appropriations bill (SB 1922), which the Legislature passed despite the Governor’s veto.
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By:
Paul Shinn
April 3, 2020 // Updated: April 7, 2020
The economic slowdown resulting from the spread of COVID-19 will have significant and harmful impacts on our state’s budget. However, it’s essential that we do our best to understand the possible implications and be ready to respond quickly.
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By:
Paul Shinn
March 26, 2020 // Updated: March 28, 2020
The State of Oklahoma has $1.035 billion in three savings accounts. Oklahoma has the resources to act quickly.
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