Topic: State Question 640

New national study shows Oklahoma’s tax system worsens inequality, among the nation’s most unfair

Oklahoma’s tax system is upside-down, with everyday Oklahomans paying a far greater share of their income in taxes than wealthy residents. Proposals to eliminate the state’s income tax would widen this disparity, according to the latest edition of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s Who Pays?, the only distributional analysis of tax systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. [More...]

Everyday Oklahomans will be hurt by sweeping revenue cuts

NOTE: On Sept. 11, 2023, Gov. Stitt called for a special session in October 2023 to address tax reforms. One of the items included in the governor’s request was a “path to zero income tax.”  – – – Oklahoma should… Read more [More...]

Tax proposals this session fail to deliver inflation relief, jeopardize state’s long-term fiscal health

Call to Action Contact your lawmakers to urge them to oppose across-the-board, untargeted tax cuts and other handouts for wealthy Oklahomans and out-of-state companies.  • Contact your lawmaker • Current Tax Cut Proposals Don’t Help Most Oklahomans [Printable PDF] With… Read more [More...]

The needs of everyday Oklahomans outweigh tax cuts that benefit the wealthy

As Oklahoma’s 2023 legislative session begins, the perennial push for tax cuts that would shrink state revenue will likely return. In 2022, leaders of the Oklahoma House of Representatives championed tax cuts – primarily focusing on reducing the personal income… Read more [More...]

Personal income tax cuts won’t deliver relief to low- and middle-class Oklahomans

Cuts to the individual income tax rate are unfair to low- and middle-class families since they return the largest benefit to the wealthiest Oklahomans. Tax cuts now can devastate state revenue and funding for services like public education in future years. [More...]

Legislators have an opportunity to make a down payment on the state’s future

Oklahoma is in a unique position this year to make a downpayment on the future of our state. Premature tax cuts will set the state up to fail; investments will allow us to thrive.  [More...]

Bill Watch: Quieter year expected on the tax front

Some of the fiercest battles of recent legislative sessions have centered on tax policy as lawmakers debated competing tax proposals to limit funding cuts and provide teachers a raise. This year, thanks to a strong economy and recent tax increases, the state's budget outlook is greatly improved. Yet even if the stakes are lower, lawmakers still filed hundreds of bills this session that would revise Oklahoma's tax system. [More...]

2019 Priority: Revisit the supermajority requirement of SQ 640

Download this fact sheet as a printable pdf here. Read about the rest of OK Policy’s 2019 Legislative Policy Priorities here. In March 1992, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 640, establishing the requirement that any bill to raise revenue must… Read more [More...]

Surviving measures to reform SQ 640 are a choice between bad and worse

For a brief moment, it looked as though there might be one silver lining to the ongoing state budget crisis. Over the past two years, a majority of legislators have voted repeatedly for tax increases needed to avert budget cuts… Read more [More...]

SQ 640 has made Oklahoma ungovernable

[Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that nothing else was on the ballot with SQ 640. It shared the ballot with the Presidential primary election in 1992.] In March 1992, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 640. It passed… Read more [More...]