April 2004 Volume 11 Number 4

Big Spenders Resent Spotlight on Government Waste

April 01, 2004

On January 29 the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA), in conjunction with Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), released the 2004 Oklahoma Piglet Book. Modeled after CAGW's annual Congressional Pig Book, our Piglet Book documented numerous examples of waste, fat, and "pork" in state government. The Oklahoma Public Employees Association (OPEA) was not pleas... Read More >

Touting Tort Reform

April 01, 2004

Tort reform is a hot topic, both in Oklahoma and in Washington, D.C. President Bush and the Congress have been looking at various tort reform measures during the past few months with the aim of limiting the legal liability of certain industries such as gun manufacturing and fast food restaurants. Earlier this year, for example, the president reiterated a plan supporte... Read More >

Need a Middle School Education? Go to College

April 01, 2004

In the world of business, everyone has to answer for the bottom line. When a company does not make a profit, people lose their jobs and are replaced by those who can make a profit. Otherwise the company goes bankrupt. Of course, there have been instances in history when losing concerns were kept operational by the massive influx of money garnished from the citizens. Such... Read More >

A Rational Tobacco Tax Policy for Oklahoma

April 01, 2004

Once again politicians are trying to force tobacco users to pay higher excise taxes. To the casual observer this appears to be a no-brainer. Oklahoma policy-makers face only minimal constituent pressure to oppose new taxes, because only 23 percent of Oklahoma residents smoke and only four percent use smokeless tobacco. Even so, in fiscal year 2004 smokers will generate $6... Read More >

Oklahoma's Income Tax Inhibits Growth

April 01, 2004

Oklahomans paid $8.2 billion in state and local taxes in fiscal 2003, or 785 percent more than 30 years earlier. Over that period state population grew by just 30.4 percent and personal income of state residents rose by 635 percent. It is interesting to note that over the past three decades income tax receipts have risen nearly 30-fold, or about four times faster tha... Read More >

A Future With Room to Grow

April 01, 2004

The OCPA staff is busy preparing for the changes coming our way this year as work begins on our new headquarters on the corner of 13th and Lincoln. Just a 60-second drive from the Capitol, OCPA will be more accessible than ever before in assisting policy makers in understanding and applying free market principles to the timely and important issues which impact our state. T... Read More >

Quote Unquote

April 01, 2004

?Rather than offering genuine hope and a way out of poverty, gambling operators prey on those who are most desperate. ... The most insidious dimension of the problem is the role of ;vernment in legitimizing and promoting the gambling enterprise. Though outlawed until 1964, state lotteries now represent the most popular form of legal gambling. Turning vice into economic vi... Read More >

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