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Oklahoma needs greater transparency, an all-funds budget, and a streamlined revenue-estimation process.

In 2018 much of the focus in the state Capitol building will be on building a budget. But in this issue of Perspective, we urge policymakers to remember the larger imperative: building a state.

Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein may face criminal charges from Los Angles to London. If he does, he can pay part of his legal bills with money from Oklahoma taxpayers.

The Tax Foundation, a well-known nonprofit that studies fiscal policy across the United States, has issued a critical analysis of the combination of tax changes and tax increases advanced over the past two weeks by Step Up Oklahoma.

In one generation, total state spending in Oklahoma has increased by $7.2 billion even when adjusted for inflation. This 70% increase shows the size and scope of government growing at an unsustainable rate. Over the same period, Oklahoma’s population grew by just 24%.

A look at the new spending totals for FY 2017 shows total state spending was $17.64 billion, down from $18.37 billion in the prior fiscal year (adjusted for inflation).

Since 2010, the Oklahoma Film + Music Office has given $20,282,491.09 through its Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program.

The latest press release from the Oklahoma Treasurer shows another month of revenue growth. With this past December exceeding the collections from December 2016, it marks the eighth straight month of year-over-year increases in revenue collections.

Oklahomans know they’re not getting a good return on their public education investments. A survey last year of 1,016 likely Oklahoma voters by the firm Cor Strategies found that only 22 percent think taxpayers are getting a good ROI – while 66 percent do not. And it’s not just Republicans, 60 percent of Democrats say we’re not getting a good ROI.

“America needs a tax cut,” Gov. Mary Fallin and several other GOP governors said in a Dec. 7 letter urging Congress to pass tax reform and send it to President Trump.