January 2006 Volume 13 Number 1

Oklahoma's Death Tax: Still Not OK

January 01, 2006

In May 2000 OCPA published an analysis entitled "Oklahoma's Death Tax: Not OK." At that time, Oklahoma stood almost alone in having a state-level estate tax, and the tax was inefficient, unfair, and unwise. Now that both the Oklahoma Speaker of the House and the state Senate Republican caucus have indicated that eliminating the death tax is a priority for 2006, it... Read More >

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

January 01, 2006

The most recent results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) are now available, and one thing is certain: Today's eighth graders would probably flunk the county eighth-grade exam given in Kansas at the turn of the century. That tells us something about what has happened to public elementary education over the last 100 years. You be the judge. B... Read More >

Oklahoma and Big Tobacco: Business Partners

January 01, 2006

Huddled behind closed doors, a small group of lawyers bargaining on behalf of states, law firms, and Big Tobacco hammered out a mega-billion dollar deal back in 1998. In exchange for state attorneys general dropping their lawsuits against the four major tobacco companies, tobacco companies would pay the states more than $200 billion. There was a catch: the states would h... Read More >

Reforming Malpractice Liability

January 01, 2006

The medical liability system is in serious trouble. Injuries due to poor medical care are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States. According to the Institute of Medicine, between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths a year are caused by medical mistakes. Medication errors alone account for approximately 7,000 deaths a year, exceeding the number of deaths due to... Read More >

Stop the Pointless Battles

January 01, 2006

Supporters of the theory of human origins known as "intelligent design" want it taught alongside the theory of evolution. Opponents will do anything to keep it out of science classrooms. The disagreement is clear. But why does everyone assume that we must settle it through an ideological death-match in the town square? Intelligent design contends that life on Ea... Read More >

A New Year of Consequences

January 01, 2006

We at OCPA believe 2006 is going to be an eventful year. The reason is that the policies which our state adopts in 2006 will have monumental consequences for our future. It's always that way, year after year. That's why OCPA works hard at advancing the decidedly free-market perspective - the philosophy that private enterprise is better than a managed economy, that li... Read More >

Quote Unquote

January 01, 2006

?We?re pleased to see Oklahoma?s economy growing. This presents us with an opportunity to move Oklahoma forward, if we manage the state?s finances appropriately and continue to advance policies that promote economic growth. We should hold the line on spending, so that we don?t lock the state into commitments that may be difficult to sustain. Hardworking taxpayers created t... Read More >

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