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The Weekly Wonk is a summary of Oklahoma Policy Institute’s events, publications, blog posts, and coverage. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know.
OK Policy Director David Blatt’s Journal Record column discussed the continuing failure of tax credit reform. David was also quoted by Tulsa television station KJRH, in an online article, discussing the proposed tax cut’s impact on education in Oklahoma. Policy analyst, Kate Richey released a statement that Governor Fallin’s veto of SB 817 (a bill that would have raised fees on short-term, high-interest, unsecured loans) was the right decision for consumers. The Oklahoman editorial board argued against OK Policy’s position on tax cuts and the Tulsa World editorial writers mentioned OK Policy in their discussion regarding the decline in collection of state and local taxes in March.
The OK Policy Blog this week featured a TED Talk on how the way we think about charities is actually undermining the causes we care most deeply about. We discussed the promising life and untimely death of tax credit reform in Oklahoma and why any fair assessment of the facts makes clear that another tax cut is the wrong priority for Oklahoma this year. We also featured the announcement of the two new Oklahoma Policy Institute Board members, John Feaver of Chickasha and Ann-Clore Duncan of Edmond.
- 339,000 – Number of low to moderate income working Oklahomans claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on their federal return, roughly 13 percent of filers in 2012
- 40,320 – Number of Oklahoma small businesses now eligible for a new health insurance tax credit under the Affordable Care Act, a federal income tax credit worth $746/year on average for each worker provided health coverage
- 82 percent – Percentage of Oklahoma’s TANF or ‘welfare’ recipients who are children, FY 2012
- 37,004 – Number of high-tech jobs in Oklahoma, 33rd among the states in 2011
- 759 – The number of state troopers on Oklahoma’s highways, comparable to the number of troopers in 1991, 22 years ago
Policy Notes
- The Center for American Progress discusses the potential advantages and pitfalls of the use of prepaid cards for government payments.
- The Economic Policy Institute reports that vast majority of wage earners are working harder, and for not much more
- The National Women’s Law Center suggests raising the minimum wage rate will narrow the gender pay equity gap.
- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities discusses how President Obama’s latest budget affirms that Washington will pay nearly all the costs of expanding Medicaid.
- The blog Governing addressed the question regarding “What’s Wrong with Kansas’ Tax Reform.”
