Making the Most of Retirement, Makes Sense of the Budget
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Name:Making the Most of Retirement, Makes Sense of the Budget
Date:January 20, 2016
Time:1:30 PM - 2:00 PM CST
Event Description:
Making the Most of Retirement makes sense of the budget Jan. 20 at Stillwater Public Library
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 1:30 p.m., Dr. Kent Olson, OSU Professor Emeritus, will present “The Basic Economics of Oklahoma’s Budget Crisis.” The class is part of the OSU Emeriti Association’s monthly retirement series, “Making the Most of Retirement,” which meets at Stillwater Public Library and is open to all retired community members.
Olson will review the current budget crisis in Oklahoma, the long-term budget outlook, factors likely to produce large budget deficits and the proposal for a once cent increase in the state’s general sales tax.
“Oklahoma’s state government almost certainly won’t collect enough tax revenue to fund all of the services that it was planning to provide this year, and will have even less to spend next year,” said Olson. “If current estimates turn out to be accurate, this year’s budget will have to be cut by about $157 million, and the Legislature will have $900.8 million less to spend next year.”
What does this mean to retirees? According to Olsen, it means less money for many government programs, including those that serve senior citizens.
“Some blame tax cuts that have been enacted in the last decade for the problem, but that doesn’t make sense,” said Olson. “Rather, this year’s budget failure and next year’s budget hole are due primarily to the dramatic fall in the price of crude oil that directly drives down severance tax receipts and indirectly reduces revenues from income and sales taxes.
“Although past tax measures are not to blame for this problem, they have significantly reduced state spending over the past decade, especially for education, and they will continue to do so, barring the enactment of tax increases. This combination of past and prospective spending decreases has energized a movement to increase the state sales tax by 1 cent, with the proceeds dedicated to education at all levels.”
From 1974-2009, Olson was a Professor of Economics at Oklahoma State University. He is currently an Emeritus faculty member in the Spears School of Business. Olson is also the author of numerous studies of Oklahoma’s tax system and government budget. Most recently, he authored studies of Oklahoma’s long-term budget outlook and sales taxes on services.
“Making the Most of Retirement” is free and meets the third Wednesday of each month. Upcoming programs include the first arm-chair traveler edition of the program on Feb. 17, where Douglas Aichele & Kathryn Castle Aichele present “Sled Dog Tales.” On March 16, the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce will discuss “What Stillwater has to Offer Retirees.”
