III. Tax Fairness

The distribution of the tax burden between high income groups and low income groups is more equitable in Oklahoma than regional or national counterparts.

• The lowest 20 per-cent of Oklahoma taxpayers pay 9.9 percent of their income in taxes, compared with 12.4 percent nationally;
  
  
• The highest 20 percent of taxpayers in Oklahoma pay 7.6 percent of their income in taxes, compared with 7.7 percent nationally;

• The difference in Oklahoma , 9.9 - 7.6 = 2.3 percent-age points, is low nationally and lowest in Okla-homa's eight-state region.

NCSL Conclusions

Oklahoma's corporate income and property taxes are unusually low by national standards and in the middle range by regional standards;

The state and local tax system of Oklahoma is fairly well balanced, more centralized than most, and less re-gressive than the rest of the region.

• Includes severance taxes which can overstate the business tax burden in energy-producing states;
• Excluding severance taxes, Oklahoma's tax burden is $100;
• Excludes sales taxes on businesses;
• Full report available from Senate Research Staff.

• Tax burdens vary for different types of firms;
• The PAR report compares 1993 tax burdens for eight hypo-thetical firms in eleven southern states;
• Full report available from Senate Research Staff.