This page is no longer being updated. As of June 15, 2017, newer tax incentive evaluation fact sheets are available here.
To ensure that economic development tax incentives are achieving their goals effectively, many states have approved laws requiring regular, rigorous, independent evaluations of these programs. For a list of states that have passed evaluation laws since the start of 2012, click here.
Oklahoma
H.B. 2182, enacted April 27, 2015
What it does
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Requires evaluation of all major tax incentives
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A state commission will review the full range of Oklahoma's economic development programs, including tax incentives and cash grants and loans.
Each program will be studied at least once every four years.
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Sets standards for economic analysis
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Evaluations will include the extent to which incentives influenced businesses' choices and how those decisions affected the state's economy.
Results will be compared with other strategies for achieving the same goals to help policymakers identify the most-effective economic development strategies.
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Excerpt from Oklahoma’s law: Evaluation criteria
Each evaluation shall include the following:
- An estimate of the economic and fiscal impact of the incentive. This estimate shall take into account the following considerations in addition to other relevant factors:
- The extent to which the incentive changes business behavior,
- The results of the incentive for the economy of Oklahoma as a whole. This consideration includes both positive direct and indirect impacts and any negative effects on other Oklahoma businesses, and
- A comparison to the results of other incentives or other economic development strategies with similar goals;
- An assessment of whether adequate protections are in place to ensure the fiscal impact of the incentive does not increase substantially beyond the state's expectations in future years;
- An assessment of whether the incentive is being administered effectively;
- An assessment of whether the incentive is achieving its goals;
- Recommendations for how Oklahoma can most effectively achieve the incentive's goals, including recommendations on whether the incentive should be retained, reconfigured or repealed; and
- Recommendations for any changes to state policy, rules, or statutes that would allow the incentive to be more easily or conclusively evaluated in the future. These recommendations may include changes to collection, reporting and sharing of data, and revisions or clarifications to the goal of the incentive.