Articles
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Budget & Tax
Free Market Friday: HB 2562 is constitutional
No question, HB 2562 is a tax cut because the effective date of the new 2-percent rate doesn’t take place until the rate would have reverted to 7 percent. Those opposed to SQ 640 will have to find another angle to attack.Michael Carnuccio | August 15, 2014
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Budget & Tax, Law & Principles
HB 2562 lawsuit: Is a tax cut the same as a tax hike?
In 1992, Oklahoma voters approved State Question 640 to add a taxpayer-protection provision to the State Constitution. Everyone — supporters and opponents alike — understood the provision would make it harder to raise taxes.Jonathan Small & Trent England | August 12, 2014
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Budget & Tax
Free Market Friday: A lesson for lawmakers
Recall the saying: “Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Such wisdom is particularly true regarding the doom and gloom often predicted by those fixated on raising taxes and fees in order to increase revenue for government.Michael Carnuccio | August 8, 2014
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Budget & Tax
The rich are already paying their ‘fair share’ — and then some
President Obama has repeatedly called for the so-called rich to pay their “fair share” as he strives to attain his stated goal of tax fairness. He defines as wealthy those individuals making $200k or married couples making more than $250k. But these earners are far from the millionaires that most would envision as America’s elite.Wendy Warcholik, Ph.D. | July 29, 2014
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Budget & Tax
Revenue shortfall? No such thing
The most recent fiscal year ended on June 30, and the data show that for state government revenues and spending, it’s a time of all-time highs.Jonathan Small | July 17, 2014
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Budget & Tax
Free Market Friday: Paycheck protection
Imagine the outrage if a government agency started collecting contributions from its employees to support the Republican Party. Some would say, with justification, that government should not help fund a political advocacy group.Michael Carnuccio | July 11, 2014
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Budget & Tax
Anti-Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century
The political left is aflutter over Capital in the Twenty-First Century, a book by French economist Thomas Piketty, who argues that the much-maligned wealth gap between the haves and have-nots is largely the result of higher returns from capital investment rather than from ordinary wage earnings. His remedy for the gap, not surprisingly, seems to be more confiscatory taxation of the “rich” with further wealth redistribution via government fiat.Mike Brake | July 2, 2014
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Budget & Tax
It's Time to Phase Out Oklahoma's Personal Income Tax
But achieving the goal of phasing out Oklahoma’s personal income tax is the one economic policy change which will expand economic opportunity for the majority of Oklahomans.Jonathan Small | July 2, 2014
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Budget & Tax
YOU GUEST IT: A review of Oklahoma’s 2014 legislative session
The Republican supermajorities which are in control at the Oklahoma state capitol produced a mix of policy victories and missed opportunities during the 2014 legislative session, which concluded on May 23.Dave Bond | June 25, 2014
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Budget & Tax
Pernicious view of property rights on display in energy tax debate
Arguing recently for a tax increase on Oklahoma’s energy industry, one writer for a liberal policy institute performed a valuable service by putting his philosophical cards on the table.Brandon Dutcher & Trent England | May 27, 2014