Oklahoma Policy Institute

[PonderInc]

I heard a few minutes of an interesting interview on Studio Tulsa today.  Rich Fisher was interviewing a guy from the Oklahoma Policy Institute.  I only heard a snippet, but I liked what I heard.  The guy was talking about all the crazy tax exemptions in OK...how we tax our groceries but won't be taxing NBA basketball tickets.  

The crazy tax breaks matter b/c by 2025 the number of Oklahomans over the age of 65 will increase by 76%, while the number of Oklahomans between the ages of 18 & 64 will increase by 5%.  Definitely, a crisis in the making.

So he was talking about the need to do a systematic review of all the tax loopholes, and identify those which truly lead to economic development, vs those that are simply (wink, wink, nod, nod) gifts of the lobbyists.

I want to learn more.  I'll try to catch the replay of Studio Tulsa at 7:30 on 89.5.  They also mentioned a website: http://www.okpolicy.org

[waterboy]

Yes, I heard parts of it too. The guy made great sense and was totally non partisan in his outlook. Simply outlined the craziness that has gone on the last few years at the statehouse. Stuff like how easy it is to eliminate a tax by a simple vote that then necessitates cutting budgets of essential programs. Yet it takes a 60% vote of the people to raise a tax.