Enid News & Eagle: A Low Tax State for Only Some Oklahomans

While Oklahoma has a reputation as a low tax state, poor and middle-income Oklahomans are actually paying a greater share of their income in taxes than the national average, while the richest 5 percent of households — with annual incomes of $194,500 or more — pay less.

That’s why Oklahoma ranks among the 10 worst states for tax inequality in the newly updated Who Pays report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). The analysis evaluates major state and local taxes, including personal and corporate income taxes, property taxes, sales and other excise taxes. It finds that the poorest Oklahoma households pay 2.1 times as much of their incomes in taxes as the wealthiest 1 percent. In Oklahoma, the poorest 20 percent of households pay the 5th highest taxes as a share of their incomes — 13.4 percent — in the country.

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