Oklahoma
State Tax Codes as Poverty Fighting Tools
• By Aidan Davis, Meg Wiehe
Despite this unlevel playing field states create for their poorest residents through existing policies, many state policymakers have proposed (and in some cases enacted) tax increases on the poor under the guise of "tax reform," often to finance tax cuts for their wealthiest residents and profitable corporations.
Reducing the Cost of Child Care Through State Tax Codes
• By Aidan Davis, Meg Wiehe
Low- and middle-income working parents spend a significant portion of their income on child care. As the number of parents working outside of the home continues to rise, child care expenses have become an unavoidable and increasingly unaffordable expense. This policy brief examines state tax policy tools that can be used to make child care more affordable: a dependent care tax credit modeled after the federal program and a deduction for child care expenses.
Rewarding Work Through State Earned Income Tax Credits
• By Aidan Davis, Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a policy designed to bolster the earnings of low-wage workers and offset some of the taxes they pay, providing the opportunity for struggling families to step up and out of poverty toward meaningful economic security. The federal EITC has kept millions of Americans out of poverty since its enactment in the mid-1970s. Over the past several decades, the effectiveness of the EITC has been magnified as many states…
How State Tax Changes Affect Your Federal Taxes: A Primer on the “Federal Offset”
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill
Read this brief in PDF here. State lawmakers frequently make claims about how proposed tax changes would affect taxpayers at different income levels. Yet too many lawmakers routinely ignore one important consequence of their tax reform proposals: the effect of state tax changes on their constituents’ federal income tax bills. Wealthier taxpayers in particular can […]
The Folly of State Capital Gains Tax Cuts
• By Dylan Grundman O'Neill, Meg Wiehe
Read the brief in a PDF here. The federal tax system treats income from capital gains more favorably than income from work. A number of state tax systems do as well, offering tax breaks for profits realized from local investments and, in some instances, from investments around the world. As states struggle to cope with […]
Achieving Sustainable Infrastructure Revenue with Gas Tax Reform
• By Carl Davis
This brief outlines the causes of Louisiana's infrastructure revenue shortfall and offers recommendations for how the state can achieve "sufficient increased levels of recurring funding to address the transportation backlog in highway and bridge maintenance needs in Louisiana," as per the Task Force's mandate.
Fiscal Policy Shake-up Comes to Energy States
• By Aidan Davis
The sharp decline in oil prices since summer 2014 has allowed consumers to save hundreds of dollars annually at the pump, but it also has left some energy producing states clamoring to come up with policy ideas to make up for lost revenue.
USA Today: These states will hike gas taxes ahead of record 4th of July travel
June 30, 2016
“Despite the fluctuations, most states have also gone years without changing their rates, according to a study by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Sixteen states have gone at least two decades without a gas-tax increase, according to the study. Five of those states have seen an increase since at least the 1980s: Alaska, […]
How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
• By Carl Davis
An updated version of this report has been published with data through July 1, 2017. Read this Policy Brief in PDF form Many states’ transportation budgets are in disarray, in part because they are trying to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with a gasoline tax rate that is rarely […]
New York Times: Oklahoma Makes the Poor Poorer
May 31, 2016
“This may seem negligible to the state’s wealthy and middle class, but not to a poor family with a breadwinner struggling at the margins. The method chosen is deporable – cutting the state share of the earned-income tax credit for low-income workers, a federal program widely praised as an effective life from poverty. “It’s one […]
OKlahoma Watch: Budget Crisis Clips Credit For Working Poor
May 23, 2016
“A data analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that the measure would eliminate Oklahoma’s credit for about 130,000 households, reduce its benefits for about 70,000 and leave it untouched for another 130,000.” Read more
Oklahoma News on 6: Oklahoma Budget Crisis Clips Credit For Working Poor
May 23, 2016
“A data analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that the measure would eliminate Oklahoma’s credit for about 130,000 households, reduce its benefits for about 70,000 and leave it untouched for another 130,000.” Read more
The Oklahoman: Plan to raise Oklahoma’s sales tax has supporters, detractors
May 23, 2016
“Some critics of raising the sales tax say it hits low-income families the hardest while others argue the debate should not be framed as low versus high-income residents. “Low income families have to spend most or all of what they earn to make ends meet and what they are spending is subject to sales tax,” […]
Tulsa World: Tax credit for working poor targeted by Oklahoma legislators
May 23, 2016
““It’s one of the most valuable antipoverty programs on the books today,” said Carl Davis, research director of the Institute on Economic Policy and Taxation. “This is very much a tax credit designed to benefit working families.”” Read more
Oklahoma Policy Institute: New bill would devastate a key tax credit for Oklahoma working families
• By ITEP Staff
“Yesterday, a letter signed by more than 150 Oklahoma clergy was delivered to lawmakers and Governor Fallin, urging them not to slash key tax credits for working families to fix the state’s revenue problems. They were joined by numerous non-profit and foundation leaders who spoke out against cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child/Child […]
Enid News: New budget plans would go after low-income parents
May 5, 2016
“A plan being discussed by Legislative leaders would eliminate the Child Tax Credit and reduce by one-fourth the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Sales Tax Relief Credit. This would shift taxes onto those families who were largely left out of Oklahoma’s income tax cuts, and it would have the worst impact on families raising […]
Norman Transcript: Not overtaxed
May 3, 2016
“In a study recently conducted by a respected Washington think tank, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, income tax cuts over the past decade in Oklahoma reduced this year’s revenue by about $1 billion dollars.” Read more
Oklahoma Policy Institute: High-income surcharge would help solve budget emergency
• By ITEP Staff
“The evidence is now undeniable that Oklahoma is facing a full-fledged emergency. With each passing day, the toll of budget cuts on Oklahoma families, schools, businesses, and communities becomes more alarming. Given the enormity of the budget shortfall, it’s widely understood that the budget can’t be balanced primarily through deeper spending cuts. The income tax […]
The Oklahoman: Oklahoma budget work is ongoing, lawmaker says
March 30, 2016
“Meantime, if the Legislature doesn’t find a source for new revenue, voters may get a chance to do so themselves. A measure to increase the state sales tax rate by one penny to better fund education is likely to be on the November ballot. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates those making […]
American Press: Where did Louisiana go wrong?
March 18, 2016
“Semuels talked with Carl Davis, the research director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. She said Davis told her state legislatures are making decisions about taxation that “don’t jive with the 21st-century economy.” Illinois is one of eight states with a flat income-tax rate. It was 5 percent, but was lowered to 3.75 […]
High Plains Public Radio: The National Economy is Strong. So Why Are Some States Languishing?
March 18, 2016
“Carl Davis, the research director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, says these states are pushing Reagan-era supply-side economics. They slash taxes in hopes of spurring growth. Oklahoma, for example, has given up on $1 billion dollars from wealthy taxpayers.” Read more
Undocumented Immigrants’ State & Local Tax Contributions (2016)
• By Lisa Christensen Gee, Meg Wiehe
This report was updated in March 2017 Read as a PDF. (Includes Full Appendix of State-by-State Data) Report Landing Page Public debates over federal immigration reform often suffer from insufficient and inaccurate information about the tax contributions of undocumented immigrants particularly at the state level. The truth is that undocumented immigrants living in the United […]
Tulsa World: Julie DelCour: Measuring Up: ‘DOTs’ hope for a ‘Road to Damascus’ moment
February 22, 2016
“Last year, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported that 20 states have gone a decade or more without an increase in their gasoline tax rate; 15 states had gone two decades or more. And five states, including Oklahoma, had not seen an increase in their gasoline tax rate since the 1980s or earlier. […]
Tahlequah Daily Press: Penny sales tax a bad idea
February 10, 2016
“The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy did an analysis of Oklahoma’s tax system, showing an average low-income family spends about 10 percent of its budget on state and local taxes, compared with about 4 percent for high-income families. This is shifting more and more of the burden of funding government to those who can […]
How Long Has it Been Since Your State Raised Its Gas Tax?
• By Carl Davis
Many states' transportation budgets are in disarray, in part because they are trying to cover the rising cost of asphalt, machinery, and other construction materials with a gasoline tax rate that is rarely increased. A growing number of states have recognized the problem with this approach and have switched to a "variable-rate" gas tax under which the tax rate tends to rise over time alongside either inflation or gas prices. A majority of Americans live…
