Trigger warning

Legislature has set itself up for another ill-timed income tax cut

This time last year, Oklahoma was in the middle of a massive budget crisis. As revenues came in below projections, the state twice made across-the-board budget cuts that hit our schools, health care, roads, and other key building blocks of our economy. Then the Legislature came into session facing a $1.3 billion shortfall, which led to even deeper cuts. Amid this agony, another tax cut took effect at the start of this year—adding at least $150 million to the budget hole and ensuring that critical services were slashed more deeply.

That tax cut kicked in because of a poorly-designed trigger mechanism passed by legislators in 2014. This year could be déjà vu all over again. Because of the same legislation passed nearly three years ago, Oklahoma could face another automatic tax cut as we grapple with even more painful budget cuts.

David Blatt is Executive Director of Oklahoma Policy Institute. For the rest of this article and more, visit okpolicy.org.