Income Tax, Budget Cuts Highlight Oklahoma Budget

A one-quarter-percent cut in the state income tax and 5 percent budget cuts to most state agencies highlight Gov. Mary Fallin’s executive budget plan for the upcoming year.

The proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 was outlined Monday by Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger shortly after Fallin delivered her State of the State speech at the start of this year’s legislative session.

Doerflinger says the plan includes almost $114 million in targeted new appropriations for services like human services, education and public safety. But the $7 billion budget proposes spending about $71 million less, or 1.3 percent, than the current fiscal year.

Proposed cuts include $47.7 million from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state’s Medicaid provider, and $49.4 million from the Regents for Higher Education.