The Weekly Wonk: We can’t continue to ignore Oklahoma’s poverty problem | Oklahoma should adopt IRS Direct File | Inadequate funding keeps Oklahoma at the bottom of the heap for health care

What's up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 Subscribe // View latest headlines Closing TONIGHT! Don't miss your chance to help shape Oklahoma's future   Share your thoughts on the issues and policies that matter most to you and that impact your community. Input from the survey will shape OK Policy's work during next year's legislative session to advance policies that help establish safe communities, keep Oklahomans healthy, and ensure our families and neighbors can thrive. Legislative Priorities Survey Encuesta de Prioridades Legislativas Oklahoma should adopt IRS Direct File   Filing taxes can be expensive, difficult, and time-consuming. Some people file their taxes themselves, while others pay a tax preparer. However, most people use paid tax preparation software like TurboTax. The IRS Direct File program aims to change that by providing a free, accessible, and quick option to file federal taxes. It could even make filing state taxes easier. The state of Oklahoma can easily opt in to Direct File for the 2025 tax season. Oklahoma should offer taxpayers free and easy filing by integrating our state online tax filing tool, OkTAP, with IRS Direct File. [Aanahita Ervin / OK Policy] Policy Matters: We can't continue to ignore Oklahoma's poverty problem   Oklahoma's poverty problem is becoming impossible to ignore. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week showed the state's poverty rate climbed to 15.9 percent, the nation's sixth highest rate. What's even more alarming is that about 1 in 5 Oklahoma children live in poverty. It's clear that we're moving in the wrong direction. [Shiloh Kantz / Journal Record] Inadequate funding keeps Oklahoma at the bottom of the heap for health care (Capitol Update)   A recent article from a national online health care publication found that Oklahoma ranked 50th followed only by South Dakota at 51st in a state-by-state and District of Columbia comparison of state Medicaid and CHIP programs comparing cost, quality, and access. When Oklahoma lawmakers choose to sock away $600 million to sit in an another "rainy day" account – rather than using it to improve access and quality of health care – the state will continue inadequate funding that keeps us at the bottom of the heap for health care. [Steve Lewis / Capitol Update] 20,000+ - Number of Hispanic businesses in Oklahoma. [Greater Oklahoma City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce] Note: Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 through Oct. 15   11.4% - The percentage of Oklahomans who didn't have health insurance in 2023. While the uninsured rate has trended down since Oklahoma expanded Medicaid to low-income residents, this is still higher than the national average of 7.9%. [OK Policy] | [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]   27% - Percentage of Oklahoma parents who lack secure employment. [KIDS COUNT] From OK Policy: OK Policy Urges Legislators to Invest in Children 27% - Percentage of Oklahoma children living in households with a high housing cost burden. [KIDS COUNT] From OK Policy: Oklahomans will go another year without solutions to housing crisis (2024 Legislative Wrap-up)   7.2% - The effective tax rate nationally for Americans in the Top 1% of all earners is 7.2%, compared with 11.4% for the lowest 20% of earners. This means that Americans earning the least pay a higher share of their household income towards taxes than the very richest. In Oklahoma, contrast is even more stark as the Top 1% pay 6.2% share while the lowest 20% pay almost twice that at 12.2%. [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy] | [Oklahoma Snapshot] "This is about finding positive, real solutions to public safety concerns and recognizing the opportunity for even greater economic growth for our state."   - Sen. Michael Brooks, speaking about his proposal for working immigrants to legally obtain a license to drive in the state. [Oklahoma Energy Today] What's That?   Motor Vehicle Taxes   Oklahoma's motor vehicle taxes are a combination of an excise (sales) tax on the purchase of a vehicle and an annual registration fee in lieu of ad valorem (property) taxes. Until 2017, motor vehicles were fully exempt from the sales tax, but under HB 2433, the exemption was partially lifted and motor vehicles became subject to a 1.25 percent sales tax. The Legislature passed a bill in 2022 to repeal the sales tax on motor vehicles, but it was vetoed by Governor Kevin Stitt.   The excise tax is 3 ¼ percent of the value of a new vehicle. For a used vehicle, the excise tax is $20 on the first $1,500 and 3 ¼ percent thereafter. The value of a vehicle is its actual sales price. The annual registration fee for non-commercial vehicles ranges from $15 to $85 depending on the age of the vehicle. Registration fees are higher for commercial vehicles (from $95 to $1,078) and less for farm vehicles ($30). Taxes generally are paid to tag agents, who are contracted by the Tax Commission as collection agents.   The state's current motor vehicle taxes are based on State Question 691, approved in 2000 by an 80 percent vote. Only the state collects motor vehicle taxes, which are split between the state General Revenue fund, schools, local governments, and several other small uses.   Motor vehicles taxes, also categorized as tag agent remittances, generated $849.8 million in FY 2023, which was 6.0 percent of total tax revenues; that year, they were the 5th largest tax after the individual  income tax, sales tax, gross production taxes, and corporate income tax. In addition, sales tax revenues from motor vehicle sales totaled $175.4 million in FY 2023.   Look up more key terms to understand Oklahoma politics and government here. Opinion: Oklahoma's election system frustrates this politics editor. No wonder other voters don't show up   For the first time in many years, I didn't vote in an Oklahoma primary election. It might sound odd coming from the editor of a political nonprofit publication and from someone who typically shows up at even the lowest turnout elections, including one where a single school board race was on the ballot. But when Election Day arrived in June, I felt an unusual surge of apathy and decided not to drive to my polling location. [Janelle Stecklein / Oklahoma Voice]   Oklahoma has the sixth-highest poverty rate in the country: Oklahoma Policy Institute Communications Director Dave Hamby said pandemic-related funding dedicated to children helped lower the rate of child poverty. However, once they expired, the rate went back up. [KOSU]   New Data: Child poverty rate in Oklahoma climbs to 20.8% in 2023: New Census data from 2023 shows Oklahoma ranks as the 6th poorest state in the nation. Oklahoma's child poverty rate is the 7th highest. The Oklahoma Policy Institute said this means for a family of three, a child was living in a household that brought in less than $25,000 a year. [Fox 25]   'Great technology': Lawmaker explores 3D-printed homes to tackle affordable housing issues: On Monday, State Rep. Mickey Dollens (D-Oklahoma City) held an interim legislative study to explore using 3D-printed homes to tackle affordable housing challenges. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, the state needs 77,000 more rental units for extremely low-income renters, or those making less than $23,000 per year for a family of four. [Fox 25] Resources for Hispanic Heritage Month: Hispanic Heritage Month provides an additional opportunity to explore the incredible impact Latinas and Latinos have had on the United States for generations. The Latino presence in America spans centuries, predating Spain's colonization of what is now part of the United States, and they have been an integral part of shaping our nation since the Revolutionary War. Through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Treaty of Paris that followed the Mexican-American and Spanish-American wars, the United States gained territories in the Southwest and Puerto Rico. This incorporated the people of this area into the United States and further expanded the presence of Hispanic Americans. [National Museum of the American Latino]   City-Country Mortality Gap Widens Amid Persistent Holes in Rural Health Care Access: The health disparities between rural and urban Americans have long been documented, but a 2024 report from the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service found the chasm has grown in recent decades. In their examination, USDA researchers found rural Americans from the ages of 25 to 54 die from natural causes, like chronic diseases and cancer, at wildly higher rates than the same age group living in urban areas. The increased mortality rates are an indicator of worsening population health, the study authors noted, which can harm local economies and employment. [KFF Health News]   Reducing Intergenerational Poverty: Experiencing poverty during childhood can lead to lasting harmful effects that compromise not only children's health and welfare but can also hinder future opportunities for economic mobility, which may be passed on to future generations. This cycle of economic disadvantage weighs heavily not only on children and families experiencing poverty but also the nation, reducing overall economic output and placing increased burden on the educational, criminal justice, and health care systems. [National Academies]   How Cutting Back the Child Tax Credit Led to Another Year of Poverty: While the economy was a key topic of discussion for the two presidential candidates when they met on the debate stage for the first time, the duel ended without explicit consideration of those most vulnerable to the vicissitudes of inflation and high housing costs. As they outlined their ideas for assisting struggling Americans, neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump made mention of a sobering statistic that was released by the Census Bureau earlier in the day: Roughly 43 million Americans live in poverty, among them millions of children. [New Republic via MSN]   Arguments Against Taxing Unrealized Capital Gains of Very Wealthy Fall Flat: A proposal in the Biden-Harris Administration's 2025 budget would require households with more than $100 million in wealth to pay income taxes of at least 25 percent of their annual income, including their unrealized capital gains — gains in the value of assets that they have not yet sold. Critics argue that unrealized capital gains, which are a primary source of income for many extremely wealthy households, are mere "paper" gains that do not constitute real income (though they meet a textbook definition of income). But unrealized gains make asset owners better off in very real ways. Claiming that unrealized gains are not "real" is akin to claiming that individuals such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are not rich unless they sell their companies' stock. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities] Support Our Work with a Donation What's up this week at Oklahoma Policy Institute? The Weekly Wonk shares our most recent publications and other resources to help you stay informed about Oklahoma. Numbers of the Day and Policy Notes are from our daily news briefing, In The Know. Click here to subscribe to In The Know. Contact Oklahoma Policy Institute 907 S. Detroit Ave #1005 Tulsa, OK 74120 United States  918-794-3944 | info@okpolicy.org   Connect with us:   If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe.