Capital gains deduction is an expensive loophole benefiting a small number of Oklahomans (Guest post: Cynthia Rogers, Ph.D)

Cynthia Rogers, PhD, is a professor of economics at the University of Oklahoma and a commissioner on the State of Oklahoma’s Incentive Evaluation Commission. The Capital Gains Tax Deduction allows Oklahoma taxpayers to avoid paying taxes on income from the… Read more [More...]

2018 Policy Priority: End oil and gas tax breaks

See the full list of our 2018 policy priorities. Download this fact sheet as a PDF. Background Oklahoma’s historical tax rate on oil and gas drilling is 7 percent, but a special tax break gives the industry a 2 percent… Read more [More...]

Repeal the capital gains tax break

A tax break that benefits a small number of wealthy taxpayers and costs the state of Oklahoma around $100 million per year cannot “be credibly shown to have significant economic impact or a positive return on investment for the State,”… Read more [More...]

Private school tax subsidy blurs the line between charitable gift and money laundering (Guest post: Carl Davis)

Carl Davis is Research Director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that works on federal, state, and local tax policy issues. When is a charitable contribution not a “donation” at all?  If a taxpayer… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma’s capital gains tax break is a windfall for the wealthiest with no proven benefit for the economy

One of Oklahoma’s largest tax breaks got no attention from legislators last year, despite its questionable legality, its questionable benefit for the economy, and a $1.3 billion budget shortfall that inspired legislators to go after many other tax breaks and… Read more [More...]

New issue brief examines one of the largest business subsidies in Oklahoma

Mark Lash is a retired federal employee who follows Oklahoma policymaking. He has previously written about the Quality Jobs Program for the OK Policy Blog. Download the full report here. According to a New York Times report, state and local… Read more [More...]

We don’t know if the Quality Jobs Program is paying off (Guest post: Mark Lash)

Mark Lash is a retired federal employee who follows Oklahoma policymaking, tries to understand it, and sometime even writes about it. See Mark’s previous post about the Quality Jobs Program here. Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Program began in 1993 and has… Read more [More...]

Oklahoma makes “Quality Jobs” payment to companies that aren’t creating new jobs (Guest Post: Mark Lash)

Mark Lash is a retired federal employee who follows Oklahoma policymaking, tries to understand it, and sometime even writes about it. Oklahoma’s Quality Jobs Program began in 1993. In fiscal year 2013, it paid incentives of $78.9 million to Oklahoma… Read more [More...]

How the incentives arms race is a lose-lose for cities and states (Guest Blog: Cynthia Rogers)

Dr. Cynthia Rogers is  Associate Professor in the Economics Department at the University of Oklahoma, where she served as the Graduate Director from 2006-2013. This is an edited version of a brief originally published for the Scholars Strategy Network, of… Read more [More...]

After talk of reining in tax breaks, Oklahoma added more

Even as Governor Fallin and legislative leaders were patting themselves on the back for this year’s legislative session, one Republican lawmaker sounded a discordant note. Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, awarded the session a “C-minus at best,” saying it was… Read more [More...]