Oklahoma City Economic Reports

[bombermwc]

There are two sides to the Austin story in my opinion.

It's booming with growth and is extremely desirable. Austin is right up there with Portland and Denver when it comes to cities beloved by Millennials. With that said, its infrastructure isn't able to handle the amount of people living there now and continuing to move there. The cost of living is skyrocketing, especially if you want to live in an urban part of the city. It's also more difficult to find employment than the numbers would indicate because there is so much job competition. Austin, like Portland and Seattle, is the kind of place where you will find people with degrees waiting tables and living with several roommates.

Texas is a huge state though and overall is much more diverse economically than Oklahoma. Parts of Texas are similar to Oklahoma such as rural north Texas. The Houston area is overall too dependent on O&G just like Oklahoma but they are also far more diverse than they were during the last oil bust. Dallas and Austin will be the least affected by the oil bust.

I'd definitely agree with the job competition issue. And urban housing isn't helped with TU being right downtown. It's a plus and minus for all sorts of things. It keeps downtown alive, but it also means places like 5th street are perpetually in a state of semi-crap because it's all run-down bars....and college kids are ok with that. You'll also find someone playing live music at most restaurants (whether you want them to or not) because there's a strong small group music scene too. Same thing though...plus and minus. If you like it, it's everywhere...if you hate it, it's still everywhere. In terms of tech jobs, yeah there is a large presence, there (mostly because of Dell's history and what it brought to town, but also because TU is a good Comp Sci school), but it means a lot of start-ups that fail or are gobbled up so there's also a lot of fluidity in the technology sector.

I have a friend that moved there from OKC just a few years ago. She's more on the hippie side than tech side (which Austin is still full of...hence "keep Austin weird". She loves it there but wasn't unhappy here either. She went there because of her job and was lucky to get somewhere like Austin. It's a town where, if you're in a good spot, you hold on to it. Otherwise it can be a ruthless town. All that job competition means that you don't necessarily get the best benefits either because 10 other people are also there to get the job and SOMEONE will take it for less than you just to GET a job.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oklahoma City's economy doing better than state's, tax receipts show | News OK

[Plutonic Panda]

Oklahoma City's sales tax dips in February | News OK

[ljbab728]

Oklahoma City's sales tax dips in February | News OK

While dips are not a good thing there is also this from that article.

Nevertheless, February's $37.3 million check from the Oklahoma Tax Commission is the second-largest ever received, eclipsed only by the $38.9 million received in February 2015.

[Spartan]

There are two sides to the Austin story in my opinion.

It's booming with growth and is extremely desirable. Austin is right up there with Portland and Denver when it comes to cities beloved by Millennials. With that said, its infrastructure isn't able to handle the amount of people living there now and continuing to move there. The cost of living is skyrocketing, especially if you want to live in an urban part of the city. It's also more difficult to find employment than the numbers would indicate because there is so much job competition. Austin, like Portland and Seattle, is the kind of place where you will find people with degrees waiting tables and living with several roommates.

Which they will do, because that's where they want to be. Period.

Texas is a huge state though and overall is much more diverse economically than Oklahoma. Parts of Texas are similar to Oklahoma such as rural north Texas. The Houston area is overall too dependent on O&G just like Oklahoma but they are also far more diverse than they were during the last oil bust. Dallas and Austin will be the least affected by the oil bust.

Dallas is fabulously diverse. I think its economy is heavier on tech now than energy. Houston is obviously still very dependent on O&G, although perhaps not as much as OKC.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oklahoma City sales tax increases in April | News OK

[Plutonic Panda]

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-economy-s...rticle/5511331

[Plutonic Panda]

http://newsok.com/sales-tax-results-...rticle/5513069

[Plutonic Panda]

Interesting article about reforming the taxes and ways the cities in Oklahoma rely on revenue.

http://newsok.com/task-force-could-e...rticle/5513642

[chuck5815]

Would the rich folks with significant commercial real estate holdings be cool with the state moving to a tax model based, in large part, on property taxes? I would guess not.

[ChrisHayes]

Texas has no income tax and rely on property taxes. As far as I know they have no budget issues. That's a possibility I'd like to see explored.

[Bunty]

Texas has no income tax and rely on property taxes. As far as I know they have no budget issues. That's a possibility I'd like to see explored.

But I don't like paying property taxes and don't want to see them higher. To me, if we want better government services, especially for education, then raise income taxes on upper middle to high income people from 5 to 7%. It would start at $75,000. If I was running for state senator, that would be what I'd advocate. I would also advocate abolishing the state corporate income tax to attract industry to Oklahoma, while making the state no longer reliant on corporate income tax incentives and eliminating what corruption goes with it. If that is unacceptable, then people just please need to shut the hell up and resign to learning to live with less than mediocre government services, including education. Either that or move out of Oklahoma, like to Texas or Colorado.

[ChrisHayes]

What is the corporate tax rate in Oklahoma?

[Bunty]

What is the corporate tax rate in Oklahoma?

6%, down from 7%.

[Midtowner]

What is the corporate tax rate in Oklahoma?

A better question is always what is the effective corporate tax rate.

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/locati...quarters-state

[onthestrip]

What is the corporate tax rate in Oklahoma?

With as many credits and corporate giveaways the state offers, its almost a big fat 0. Seems like most monthly reports I read show that the state collected nothing as far as corporate taxes. Sure is nice, huh?

[Plutonic Panda]

http://newsok.com/economic-uncertain...rticle/5514799

[Zorba]

Interesting article about reforming the taxes and ways the cities in Oklahoma rely on revenue.

http://newsok.com/task-force-could-e...rticle/5513642

Overall I think it would be a good idea for cities to move towards property tax for basic operations. Not sure I would support it for "extras" like Maps, etc. I would not support getting rid of income tax at the state level in exchange for property tax.

In general sales tax is the most regressive tax, and it discourages economic activity, and with the current federal laws, encourages people to buy online instead of locally. If cities were allowed to use property tax, instead of sales tax, maybe we could waive tax on groceries like many other states do, which would make sales tax much less regressive.

Property tax is also regressive, but has fewer issues than sales tax, and is federally deductible when deducting state income tax, while sales tax can only be deducted if state income tax is not. One huge problem with property tax is cities waive it all the time to attract companies.

That being said, I really don't support local income taxes, like Ohio has. So I think property tax is the best option to stabilize local funding. To start out, they should be required to reduced sales tax by the equivalent they raise property tax.

[Plutonic Panda]

http://newsok.com/economic-growth-sl...rticle/5518986

[PhiAlpha]

http://newsok.com/economic-growth-sl...rticle/5518986

"Oil bust, what oil bust?" - Midland, TX

The Permian Basin is really pulling Midland through this slump, it's amazing that Midland led the country in growth through such a horrible commodity pricing period. OKC hasn't done too bad either all things considered.

[RodH]

"Oil bust, what oil bust?" - Midland, TX

The Permian Basin is really pulling Midland through this slump, it's amazing that Midland led the country in growth through such a horrible commodity pricing period. OKC hasn't done too bad either all things considered.

Midland may have led the nation in growth but Odessa had the third biggest contraction. This shows that the region has been affected by the slump. The numbers may be more indicative of the type of jobs lost.

[gopokes88]

"Oil bust, what oil bust?" - Midland, TX

The Permian Basin is really pulling Midland through this slump, it's amazing that Midland led the country in growth through such a horrible commodity pricing period. OKC hasn't done too bad either all things considered.

OKC's economy is a lot more diverse than people realize.

[Bunty]

Overall I think it would be a good idea for cities to move towards property tax for basic operations. Not sure I would support it for "extras" like Maps, etc. I would not support getting rid of income tax at the state level in exchange for property tax.

In general sales tax is the most regressive tax, and it discourages economic activity, and with the current federal laws, encourages people to buy online instead of locally. If cities were allowed to use property tax, instead of sales tax, maybe we could waive tax on groceries like many other states do, which would make sales tax much less regressive.

Property tax is also regressive, but has fewer issues than sales tax, and is federally deductible when deducting state income tax, while sales tax can only be deducted if state income tax is not. One huge problem with property tax is cities waive it all the time to attract companies.

That being said, I really don't support local income taxes, like Ohio has. So I think property tax is the best option to stabilize local funding. To start out, they should be required to reduced sales tax by the equivalent they raise property tax.

I'd sooner leave property taxes alone and raise income taxes on high income people. I don't and never will, but if I made better than $75,000 or $100,000 yearly, I wouldn't mind paying a little higher taxes on it. Property taxes are already high enough for low to moderate income people.

[adaniel]

Midland may have led the nation in growth but Odessa had the third biggest contraction. This shows that the region has been affected by the slump. The numbers may be more indicative of the type of jobs lost.

Odessa has always been the more "blue collar" city while Midland has been more office/HQ based jobs. So it doesn't surprise me they would take it a bit harder. The net effect is probably an economy with zero growth, which is not horrible given how many layoffs and cutbacks there has been.

On a somewhat more related note, I saw that, for the first time since late 2014, Oklahoma added jobs in mining (i.e. oil and gas). Too soon to say we hit bottom but a positive indication nonetheless.

[baralheia]

I think it's also important to note that Oklahoma City's economic growth in 2015 was actually better than in 2014 - 2014 posted GDP growth of 2.5% vs 2015's 2.8% GDP growth. While growth could be higher, it's telling that GDP growth in OKC still increased despite the downward pressure on the rest of the state.