Key industry tax breaks in Oklahoma have more than doubled over the past four years and are now costing the state well over half a billion dollars a year, state records show.
The two dozen business tax breaks combined grew from $356 million in 2010 to $760 million in 2014. The 2014 figure is equivalent to just over 10 percent of the state’s $7.2 billion budget, and more than the state spends every year on prisons and public safety.
An Oklahoma Watch analysis of data obtained from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, Oklahoma Insurance Department and Senate Finance Committee shows that the growth has been fueled by incentives provided to oil, gas and wind-power producers.
Together, the energy industry tax breaks reduced state revenue collections by $486 million in 2014. The other tax breaks related to areas such as job creation, the film industry and historic building rehabilitation.
Some lawmakers and advocacy groups say the lost revenue is harmful to the state, restricting its ability to invest in core services such as education and health care or to offer broad-based cuts in income or sales taxes.
Oklahoma Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism service that produces in-depth and investigative content on a range of public-policy issues facing the state. For more Oklahoma Watch content, go to www.oklahomawatch.org
