Oklahoma Watch (https://oklahomawatch.org/tag/oklahoma-taxes/)
The Oklahoma Supreme Court heard arguments on a pair of challenges to this spring’s tax hikes. But confusion and uncertainty have marked the tax-repeal referendum. Here are the answers to some of the questions.
Although the Step Up Oklahoma plan failed to pass, it highlighted a gap in state campaign finance laws that can keep much of the funding and spending on both sides of the issue a secret.
Lawmakers are right back where they started after a much-anticipated vote to pass one of the largest tax increases in state history fell short in the state House.
Oil and gas companies, along with their trade groups, have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to lawmakers over more than two years, with top Republican leaders at the forefront of budget talks taking in some of the largest amounts.
Calls to increase the state’s tax on oil and gas wells intensified Monday after Oklahoma lawmakers rejected one of the biggest revenue-raising bills of this year’s session.
Although Republican legislative leaders introduced the session’s first big-ticket revenue bills this week, opposition to smaller measures could signal a difficulty passing larger ones before the Legislature’s May 25 deadline to adjourn.
As the 2017 legislative session enters its final phase, House GOP leaders’ strategies to bridge the $878 million shortfall are slowly coming into focus.
At the one-quarter mark of the 2017 legislative session, lawmakers have a number of unresolved issues — chiefly the $878 million budget gap for next fiscal year. But many Republicans want to look at possible spending and tax-break cuts before they decide on revenue-raising ideas.
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb’s resignation from Gov. Mary Fallin’s Cabinet over her proposed tax plan underscores the challenges the $934 million proposal faces in an increasingly skeptical Legislature.
A proposed penny sales tax increase for education would push Oklahoma to the top of the list of states with the highest combined state and local sales taxes.