Fallin cuts top tax rate, says state revenue growth is enough.

[Townsend]

Summit Gives Bleak Outlook on Oklahoma Budget

http://kwgs.com/post/summit-gives-bleak-outlook-oklahoma-budget

A budget summit in Oklahoma City hosted by the Oklahoma Policy Institute gives a bleak outlook for the state's short-term and long-term budgets.

Anew legislative session begins in just over two weeks. Lawmakers will head back to the capitol facing a $170 million budget shortfall. Oklahoma Policy Institute Director David Blatt hopes the summit paints a clear picture of what that shortfall and the policies that lead to it mean for the state.

"In particular, what challenges are ahead of us and what might be the most sensible approaches for trying to manage what are looking to be another round of tough budget times," Blatt said.

The good news is Oklahomans pay one of America's lowest total tax rates: $8.41 for every $100 earned. But that's also bad news.

The rates were already low when they were cut, and the cuts cost the state billions of dollars in revenue since 2004. Blatt said fixing the problems caused by those cuts and other policies will be a marathon, not a sprint.

"And we'll never entirely get to the finish line as far as coming up with the right mix of taxes and the right programs, but the approach we've taken over the last several years as been very one-sided," he said.

Other than income tax cuts, problems summit speakers said need to be addressed include too-generous tax breaks for oil and gas producers, an outdated sales tax and inflexible spending rules.

The state faces a structural deficit. That means the state's normal revenue growth can't keep up with expected spending increases. Revenue also hasn't returned to pre-recession levels.

[carltonplace]

Time for more tax cuts. I'll take one this time please.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Summit Gives Bleak Outlook on Oklahoma Budget

http://kwgs.com/post/summit-gives-bleak-outlook-oklahoma-budget

Uncle Kimchi's head explodes in 4........3.........2..........

[TheArtist]

  Whats wrong with these RHINOS?  Why can't they keep the expected increases down in line with revenue growth?  Think we need to throw these lackeys out and get some real Republicans in there.  We need to cut big state government and state taxes and return more control of the purse strings and decision making powers to the local municipalities.  I don't want people way over there in OKC feeding off our tax dollars to build bureaucracy jobs there and then telling us Tulsan's what to do with what's left of our money.  I think we can better decide how to spend our money on education, roads, healthcare etc. than someone way down the pike.

[Townsend]

 Whats wrong with these RHINOS?  Why can't they keep the expected increases down in line with revenue growth?  Think we need to throw these lackeys out and get some real Republicans in there.  We need to cut big state government and state taxes and return more control of the purse strings and decision making powers to the local municipalities.  I don't want people way over there in OKC feeding off our tax dollars to build bureaucracy jobs there and then telling us Tulsan's what to do with what's left of our money.  I think we can better decide how to spend our money on education, roads, healthcare etc. than someone way down the pike.

http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/147-the-stillborn-state-of-sequoyah

[Ibanez]

As the days go by I think more and more the idea of Eastern Oklahoma telling the rest of the state to FOAD and going our own way is a good idea.

[Townsend]

Governor to Propose 'Affordable' Income Tax Cut



http://kwgs.com/post/governor-propose-affordable-income-tax-cut

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Republican Governor Mary Fallin says she'll outline plans for what she calls an affordable income tax cut during next month's State of the State speech, despite a projected $170 million revenue shortfall next fiscal year.

Fallin said Wednesday the details are still being worked out, but will be included in her executive budget presented to lawmakers on February 3rd at the start of the legislative session.

The governor must present a balanced budget to lawmakers based on about $6.96 billion in revenues the state is expected to collect next fiscal year.

An agreement among GOP leaders last year to cut income taxes from 5.25 percent to 5 percent was thrown out by the Oklahoma Supreme Court for violating a state constitution ban on having multiple subjects in a bill.

Do they do this knowing it'll fail but so they can say they tried?  Maybe to make the OK courts look like the bad guys.  "We tried but your courts failed you."

[AquaMan]

Yes, which will add momentum to an effort to further politicize the judicial selection process. "The only answer is to let us appoint our state judges so we can assure they are able to understand what our constitution actually means, not what it says."

[Cats Cats Cats]

Man .25% isn't very much

[heironymouspasparagus]

http://bigthink.com/strange-maps/147-the-stillborn-state-of-sequoyah

50+ counties!!??  What a nightmare that would be....

Gotta remember, when all this went down, the US was just barely over the practice of offering bounties for the proof of death of a Native American...and the name Sequoyah probably was too unpalatable, especially since it represented a man who was instrumental in the education of Native people...

[rebound]

50+ counties!!??  What a nightmare that would be....

Gotta remember, when all this went down, the US was just barely over the practice of offering bounties for the proof of death of a Native American...and the name Sequoyah probably was too unpalatable, especially since it represented a man who was instrumental in the education of Native people...

From the article:
"In 1866, the Indian Territory was roughly halved when the US government forced new treaties on the tribes living there."

What crushed the tribes is when they (or at least some, not sure on all tribes) sided with the South in the Civil War.  Prior to that they had very good (if tenuous) relations with Washington.  All bets were off after the war, and the Union didn't waste much time in forcing new treaties and taking away half the state.  It was downhill from there.

[heironymouspasparagus]

From the article:
"In 1866, the Indian Territory was roughly halved when the US government forced new treaties on the tribes living there."

What crushed the tribes is when they (or at least some, not sure on all tribes) sided with the South in the Civil War.  Prior to that they had very good (if tenuous) relations with Washington.  All bets were off after the war, and the Union didn't waste much time in forcing new treaties and taking away half the state.  It was downhill from there.

I'm getting old and the memory may not be quite what it was, but am pretty sure that the Cherokee and others were forcibly moved from their ancestral homes in GA, TN, AL, etc WAY before the Civil War  (that whole Trail of Tears thing...).  And going beyond to the entire US, all the various Sioux had nothing to do with siding with the south, nor the Navaho, the Absaroka (Crow), or any of several thousand other tribes that were the targets of extermination, genocide, and crimes against humanity, as official government policy - up until about 1900. 

"All bets were off after the war" was only justification to continue what had been official policy anyway.  Something to try to cover the evil and sooth some consciences.

It was downhill since about 1492 or so....

[rebound]

It was downhill since about 1492 or so....

Well, yeah, Ok.  You have a point there.   

But there were good relations between the five tribes and Washington prior to the war, and if you look at the immediate history before,during, and after the Civil War, it's clear that the allegiance of some of the tribes to the Confederacy allowed the Federal Govt to force new reconstruction treaties on the tribes, which resulted in the halving of the Nations and further political division.  If the tribes had held all of what is now OK, it would have meant only one Western state entering instead of two, and that may have changed the outcome.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Well, yeah, Ok.  You have a point there.   

But there were good relations between the five tribes and Washington prior to the war, and if you look at the immediate history before,during, and after the Civil War, it's clear that the allegiance of some of the tribes to the Confederacy allowed the Federal Govt to force new reconstruction treaties on the tribes, which resulted in the halving of the Nations and further political division.  If the tribes had held all of what is now OK, it would have meant only one Western state entering instead of two, and that may have changed the outcome.

Good relations were ONLY because any and all of the Natives who might have argued with anything being said to them had already been killed.  Some went with the Confederates in hope that they at least would leave the tribes alone if they happened to win.  Plus, some also "owned" slaves...go figure.  Strange world we live in.

[Townsend]

Voter Support for Income Tax Cuts Falls

http://kwgs.com/post/voter-support-income-tax-cuts-falls

A new poll shows falling voter support for Oklahoma personal income tax cuts.

Approval of income tax cuts fell from 52 to 46 percent. When surveyed voters were asked if they approve of cuts an analysis says would largely benefit the top 1 percent of Oklahoma households, less than one-third did.

"There really is nobody at this point, no constituency out there clamoring for tax cuts," said Oklahoma Policy Institute Executive Director David Blatt. "At the same time, you have a legislature that still seems hell-bent on passing a tax cut whether anybody's asking for one or not."

Tax cut support among voters is even lower when asked which public services they favor cutting to support lower income taxes.

The poll also asked voters whether an educated and well-trained workforce or low personal income tax rates were more important to economic growth in the state.

"People understand that it's an educated and well-trained workforce," Blatt said. "Seventy-four percent responded that an educated workforce is what's needed to create economic growth, compared to 17 percent who said low personal income tax rates."

The poll of 610 registered Oklahoma voters was conducted earlier this month by Washington, D.C.-based Global Strategy Group.