Articles
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Budget & Tax
This outrageous spending must stop
UCO economist Mickey Hepner is a staunch supporter of Barack Obama, yet in this excellent column Dr. Hepner explains why "this outrageous spending must stop."Brandon Dutcher | May 18, 2009
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Budget & Tax
A Look Back at Oklahoma's Tax Burden
The chart below shows the composition of Oklahoma's state and local tax burden, as a percent of personal income, from fiscal year (FY) 1950 to 2008.J. Scott Moody & Wendy Warcholik, Ph.D. | May 1, 2009
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Budget & Tax
Crowding Out Oklahoma's Private Sector
This year's budget hole at the state capitol is big. And if the politicians' reluctance to tap the Rainy Day Fund is any indication, next year's hole could be even bigger.Brandon Dutcher | April 15, 2009
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Budget & Tax
Have Tax Dollars, Will Travel
By focusing thousands of eyes on frivolous, careless, and just plain wasteful spending that is being done with your tax dollars, we can start to expose the unacceptable patterns of abuse that are apparently being practiced-not only in higher education, but throughout state government.Steve Anderson | April 14, 2009
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Budget & Tax
Tax burden would appall founders
For as Jefferson said in his first inaugural address: "a wise and frugal Government ... shall leave [men] free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned."Brandon Dutcher | April 13, 2009
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Budget & Tax
Enhanced Financial Reporting for State Government
At the state level, Oklahoma faces a major problem with the unfunded liabilities of its retirement systems. Meanwhile, it struggles with the same problems as other states to provide for the education, health care, transportation, and other needs of its citizens.Tom Daxon | April 3, 2009
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Budget & Tax
Stealth Taxation 'Nonappropriated' Agencies Quietly Take Your Money
In its first hundred years Oklahoma's state government has managed to develop bureaucracies that would make it the envy of many socialist countries.Steve Anderson | April 1, 2009
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Budget & Tax
A Billion Dollars of Unnoticed Taxation
Over the past two years, I have been taking note of state government's hidden spending.Jason Murphey | April 1, 2009
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Budget & Tax
In Defense of Oklahoma's Tax-Hike Supermajority Requirement
State legislation is often described as an expression of majority rule. However, the legislative process contains steps that seem designed to hinder spontaneous expressions of majority sentiment.Joseph D. Henchman | April 1, 2009
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Budget & Tax
Feds can't bail us out forever
No one know for sure just how much the federal government can continue to borrow before investors get indigestion from buying too many Treasuries. Unfortunately, this data suggests that we may just find out.J. Scott Moody | March 11, 2009