Oklahoma has been experiencing a budget crisis since the price of oil plummeted. But much of the problem is the state’s own fault, reports member station KOSU and the Associated Press. Even when Oklahoma's economy was roaring thanks to an oil boom, the state was slashing taxes. During the good times, the state was expanding class sizes and eliminating teachers because costly tax cuts were eating up surplus revenue. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin and the GOP-led Legislature recently pushed through another big tax cut, a quarter-point reduction in the top income tax rate.
Oklahoma's Republican Treasurer Ken Miller has chastised his GOP colleagues in the Legislature for creating a "self-inflicted" fiscal crisis.
Oklahoma might have taken a lesson from North Dakota. During the oil boom, that state squirreled away billions in revenue to help prepare for the bust cycle.
