Oklahoma Ranks Top 20 In Taxes, Lawmakers Hope To Make Top 10 In 2024

State business leaders are renewing their push to save Oklahomans some extra cash. The Oklahoma State Chamber says cutting individual income taxes could put Oklahoma ahead on a national level.

The chamber released their 2024 Oklahoma Scorecard, looking where Oklahoma is succeeding and falling short, compared to other states. They look at topics like tax competitiveness, education, healthcare and infrastructure.

This year, Oklahoma ranked 12th in infrastructure, 19th in taxes, 30th in economic competitiveness, 42nd in workforce and 44th in healthcare. 

The state chamber had a lot of recommendations for lawmakers on tax reform policy last year, leading into the 2023 session. Now, they’re hoping to get the state into the top ten in taxes and the other areas they’ve measured.

“We've seen in the last couple years Oklahoma has really climbed the rankings in some positive areas - for example tax policy,’ said Ben Lepak, the executive director of the State Chamber Research Foundation.

“Our position in the world is to analyze the things that will make Oklahoma a better place to do business, help our economy grow and then develop public policy solutions that can be implemented by the state,” said Lepak.

Lepak said the annual Oklahoma scorecard is an essential part of their effort to ensure lawmakers and business leaders are aware of the state’s strengths and weaknesses.

“There's no reason that Oklahoma can't be at the top of each and every one of these rankings,” said Lepak.

After tax reform passed by lawmakers in 2023 eliminated the franchise tax and the marriage penalty tax, Oklahoma jumped to the top 20 in tax competitiveness.

"That's a good success story, but it's not quite done. There are a couple other tax reforms that would move us from 19th to the top 10,” said Lepak.

House Speaker Charles McCall has introduced five tax cut bills that would cut corporate and personal income taxes. There has also been legislation introduced to eliminate the state portion of the grocery tax, and completely eliminate the personal income tax.

“On the corporate side we are already at the top. Where we could see some improvement is on the individual income tax,” said Lepak.

Lowering the personal income tax has been a push from the governor for years, and he’s even still hinting at one more special session this month to renew his push for a cut.

Even after another special session came and went with no moves to cut additional taxes, Lepack says he’s optimistic that lawmakers will take action during the 2024 session. 

“Our hope is that this will provide momentum and motivation for lawmakers to go ahead and take us the rest of the way there when it comes to individual income tax,” said Lepak.

Lepack says if lawmakers continue to pass tax reform Oklahoma could be top ten in tax competitiveness by 2025.

For more information on how Oklahoma ranked, click here.