Ron Paul Wins Oklahoma Straw Poll

With a 21% lead, Ron Paul won the first Oklahoma Straw Poll conducted online at http://www.OklahomaStrawPoll.com from November 21st to December 5^th.

The results were:

Ron Paul - 46%

Herman Cain - 25%

Newt Gingrich - 17%

Mitt Romney - 6%

Rick Perry - 3%

Michele Bachmann - 2%

Rick Santorum - 1%

Gary Johnson - less than 1%

Other Polls

If the general election were held today, only Ron Paul could beat Barack Obama in Iowa.

According to an NBC-Marist survey (pdf) conducted Nov. 27-29 among 2,896 registered voters, Paul ties Obama, with each contestant gaining 42% of the vote.

Other Republicans do significantly worse against the presumed Democratic candidate: Romney -7, Gingrich -10, Perry -11 and Bachmann -23. The margin of error is 1.8 percentage points.

Ron Paul 42%, Obama 42% (tied)

Mitt Romney 39%, Obama 46% (-7)

Newt Gingrich 37%, Obama 47% (-10)

Rick Perry 37%, Obama 48% (-11)

Michele Bachmann 31%, Obama 54% (-23)

Two recent Rasmussen polls show that Ron Paul is not only statistically tied with Obama (38% vs. 39%); he does better against the current president than any other declared or potential GOP candidate:

1. Ron Paul 38%, Barack Obama 39% (1% difference)

2. Rick Perry 40%, Barack Obama 43% (3% difference)

3. Michele Bachmann 39%, Barack Obama 43% (4% difference)

4. Mitt Romney 38%, Barack Obama 46% (8% difference)

5. Sarah Palin 33%, Barack Obama 50% (17% difference)

In the Iowa voters result, Paul took 82%. Following him were Herman Cain with 14.7%, Rick Santorum with 1%, Newt Gingrich with 0.9%, Michele Bachmann with 0.5%, Rick Perry with 0.5%, Gary Johnson with 0.2%, with Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman 0%.

The Illinois Republican Party says Ron Paul has won a statewide straw poll that sought to determine voters' unofficial preference for the GOP presidential nomination.

The Texas congressman won Saturday's poll with 52 percent of the vote. Paul won in both online and total votes.

Oklahoma Economy Appears Headed into Happy Holiday Season

Oklahoma’s economy continues its upward trend as the state enters the Christmas season, State Treasurer Ken Miller said today as he released the state’s monthly gross receipts report.

“We are again seeing growth in all areas measured by revenue collections, which points to an economically healthy holiday season,” Miller said.

November collections were 13.2 percent higher than in November of last year, showing solid improvement in the state’s economy. It was the fourth time in the past seven months that collections grew by more than 10 percent over the prior year. Collections over the past 12 months are up more than nine percent from the previous 12 months.

Miller said gross revenue, a reflection of the state’s economic performance, has grown for 21 consecutive months.

“The last time 12-month receipts were higher than today was two-and-a-half years ago, in May 2009, when collections stood at $10.77 billion. Since we hit the depths of the recession in February 2010, almost two-thirds of the lost revenue has been recovered,” he said.

Positive signs

On the national level, initial reports on Black Friday spending and the latest consumer confidence measure point to an improving economic picture. Numerous sources are reporting healthy increases in consumer spending at the start of the Christmas shopping season and The Conference Board reports consumer confidence surged in November from the month before.

Miller said the information bodes well for Oklahoma.

“Oklahoma’s economy has consistently outperformed the national average, and there is no indication that will change going into the holiday season,” he said.

This month’s revenue collections don’t yet reflect holiday shopping, as sales tax on purchases made after November 15 will not be reported until next month.

In October, statewide unemployment was set at 6.1 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous month. National unemployment in October was 9.0 percent. Oklahoma’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment is down by 0.8 percentage points compared to October of last year.

In analyzing the increase, state economists, including Miller, continue to believe the uptick is likely another sign of economic improvement as formerly discouraged job seekers are reentering the labor force.

November collections

The revenue report for November shows gross collections at $803.02 million, up $93.79 million or 13.2 percent from November of last year.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, generated $241.45 million, an increase of $30.54 million or 14.5 percent from the previous November.

Personal income tax collections for the month are $236.81 million, up $34.71 million or 17.2 percent from the prior year. Corporate collections are $4.64 million, a decrease of $4.17 million or 47.4 percent.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $321.55 million in November. That is $22.19 million or 7.4 percent above November of last year.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $75.28 million in November, an increase of $7.13 million or 10.5 percent from last November. Compared to October reports, gross production collections are up by $6.92 million or 10.1 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $49.1 million, up by $5.49 million or 12.6 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $115.64 million during the month. That is $28.43 million or 32.6 percent higher than last November.

Twelve-month collections

In the past 12 months, gross revenue totals $10.586 billion. That is $907.08 million or 9.4 percent higher than the 12-month period ending in November 2010.

Gross income taxes generated $3.627 billion for the 12 months, reflecting an increase of $379.86 million or 11.7 percent from the trailing 12 months.

Personal income tax collections total $3.116 billion, up by $253.64 million or 8.7 percent from the prior 12 months. Corporate collections are $471.15 million for the period, an increase of $126.22 million or 36.6 percent over the previous 12 months.

Sales taxes for the period generated $3.820 billion, an increase of $268.95 million or 7.6 percent from the prior 12-month period.

Oil and gas gross production tax collections brought in $1.042 billion during the 12 months, up by $101.03 million or 10.7 percent from the previous period.

Motor vehicle collections total $653.74 million for the period. This is an increase of $50.55 million or 8.4 percent from the trailing 12 months.

Other sources generated $1.443 billion, up $106.68 million or 8.0 percent from the previous period.

Overtime and Taxes

Many of us put in extra hours at work to help make ends meet, buy Christmas presents and just have a few more dollars. I have always heard that the government takes most of the overtime pay so I decided to do some calculations.

If you do a lot of overtime though, you need to be conscious of how your additional earnings will affect your tax liability at the end of the year. If you know your overtime rate, you can calculate how much more of your money is withheld over the course of a year and whether you need to think strategically about the hours you're putting in.

The first thing to consider is that you are taxed annually, not on each check. That is why some people can pay quarterly taxes and so forth. The taxes of each paycheck are based on your annual earnings assuming that pay were the same throughout the year.  So it is true that you may move into a higher bracket for a specified time period while not necessarily moving into the higher bracket for the year.  

The employer can elect how the tax is withheld from your pay. The simple overview is they can simply add it to the regular hours and withhold taxes form that amount or they can elect to use one of the supplemental methods. The simple example is at the end of the post.

Supplemental Method

According to the IRS’ Circular E- Employers Tax Guide, supplemental wages are wage payments to an employee paid during the payroll period that are not regular wages. They include, but are not limited to, bonuses, commissions, overtime pay, and payments for accumulated sick leave, severance pay, awards, prizes, back pay, retroactive pay increases, and payments for nondeductible moving expenses. Other payments subject to the supplemental wage rules include taxable fringe benefits and expense allowances paid under a non-accountable plan. How you withhold on supplemental wages depends on whether the supplemental payment is identified as a separate payment from regular wages. See Reg- 2. Section 31.3402(g)-1 for additional guidance for employee’s regular wages paid after January 1, 2007. Also see Revenue Ruling 2008-29, 2008-24 I.R.B. 1149, available at www.irs.gov/irb/2008-24_IRB/ar08.html.

Since these are taxes there is no simple answer. The fact is that the employer has a choice on how to withhold the tax from your paycheck. Here are some examples.

Example 1 is to simply withhold the tax based on the total amount (regular hours + overtime).

Example 2- You pay a base salary on the 1st of each month. She is single and claims one allowance. Her May 1 pay is $2,000. Using the wage period covered by the wage payment bracket tables, you withhold $195. On May 14 she receives a bonus of $1,000. Electing to use supplemental wage withholding method 1-b, you;

1. Add the bonus amount to the amount of wages from the last wage payment made during the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) ($2,000 + $1,000 = $3,000).

2. Determine the amount of withholding on the combined $3,000 amount to be $345 using the wage bracket tables.

3. Subtract the amount withheld from wages on the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) from the pay an employee for a period of less than one week, and combined withholding amount ($345 – $195 = $150

4. Withhold $150 from the bonus payment.

Example 3-The facts are the same as in Example 2, except you elect to use the flat rate method of withholding on the bonus. You withhold 25% of $1,000, or $250, from wages subject to withholding, the employee’s bonus payment.

Example 4-The facts are the same as in Example 2, except you elect to pay a second bonus of $2,000 on May 28. Using supplemental wage withholding method 1-b, you:

1. Add the first and second bonus amounts to the amount of wages from the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) ($2,000 + $1,000 + $2,000 = $5,000).

2. Determine the amount of withholding on the combined $5,000 amount to be $811 using the wage bracket tables.

3. Subtract the amounts withheld from wages on the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) and the amounts withheld from the first bonus payment from the combined withholding ($811 – $195 – $150 = $466).

4. Withhold $466 from the second bonus payment.

The “Simple” Example

As you can see the amount of tax on overtime may vary depending on the method used.  Even if your employer decides to simply add the amounts together for taxation, there is a Wage Bracket Method and a more complicated Percentage Method.  For simplicity (a bit late maybe) we will use the Wage Bracket Method for our own example.

If you normally earn $1550.00 (gross taxable income) biweekly then your withholding would be $183.00 (with one dependant claimed). If you then earn an extra $300.00 in overtime the tax is $258.00 (1550.00 + 300.00 = 1850.00). This adds $75.00 to your tax for the paycheck with the additional hours. That is 11.8% on the regular wage while paying 25% for the additional 300.00 if you break it up (183/1550=.118) and (75/300=.25). More accurately the total tax is 13.9% (258/1850=.139).  The overtime will put you in a higher tax bracket for a given pay period.

If you earned this $1550.00 throughout the year you would earn approximately $37,200.00 annually. And if you earned $1200.00 in overtime for the year the total is now $38,400.00. The tax (according to the IRS Tax Calculator) would be $3179 or 8.5% for the $37,200 while the tax on the $38,400 is estimated to be $3359 or 8.7%. The difference is $180.00. Using the break up method you pay 15% on the overtime pay (180/12000=.15) which is still 10% less than the 25% of a single pay period overtime tax.

All of this to say you will pay more tax on more income. The statement that you get taxed more for overtime is not necessarily accurate in that there is not a single rule to tax overtime using a different method. The choice for the amount withheld per pay period is up to your employer. 

Overtime and Taxes

Many of us put in extra hours at work to help make ends meet, buy Christmas presents and just have a few more dollars. I have always heard that the government takes most of the overtime pay so I decided to do some calculations.

If you do a lot of overtime though, you need to be conscious of how your additional earnings will affect your tax liability at the end of the year. If you know your overtime rate, you can calculate how much more of your money is withheld over the course of a year and whether you need to think strategically about the hours you're putting in.

The first thing to consider is that you are taxed annually, not on each check. That is why some people can pay quarterly taxes and so forth. The taxes of each paycheck are based on your annual earnings assuming that pay were the same throughout the year.  So it is true that you may move into a higher bracket for a specified time period while not necessarily moving into the higher bracket for the year.  

The employer can elect how the tax is withheld from your pay. The simple overview is they can simply add it to the regular hours and withhold taxes form that amount or they can elect to use one of the supplemental methods. The simple example is at the end of the post.

Supplemental Method

According to the IRS’ Circular E- Employers Tax Guide, supplemental wages are wage payments to an employee paid during the payroll period that are not regular wages. They include, but are not limited to, bonuses, commissions, overtime pay, and payments for accumulated sick leave, severance pay, awards, prizes, back pay, retroactive pay increases, and payments for nondeductible moving expenses. Other payments subject to the supplemental wage rules include taxable fringe benefits and expense allowances paid under a non-accountable plan. How you withhold on supplemental wages depends on whether the supplemental payment is identified as a separate payment from regular wages. See Reg- 2. Section 31.3402(g)-1 for additional guidance for employee’s regular wages paid after January 1, 2007. Also see Revenue Ruling 2008-29, 2008-24 I.R.B. 1149, available at www.irs.gov/irb/2008-24_IRB/ar08.html.

Since these are taxes there is no simple answer. The fact is that the employer has a choice on how to withhold the tax from your paycheck. Here are some examples.

Example 1 is to simply withhold the tax based on the total amount (regular hours + overtime).

Example 2- You pay a base salary on the 1st of each month. She is single and claims one allowance. Her May 1 pay is $2,000. Using the wage period covered by the wage payment bracket tables, you withhold $195. On May 14 she receives a bonus of $1,000. Electing to use supplemental wage withholding method 1-b, you;

1. Add the bonus amount to the amount of wages from the last wage payment made during the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) ($2,000 + $1,000 = $3,000).

2. Determine the amount of withholding on the combined $3,000 amount to be $345 using the wage bracket tables.

3. Subtract the amount withheld from wages on the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) from the pay an employee for a period of less than one week, and combined withholding amount ($345 – $195 = $150

4. Withhold $150 from the bonus payment.

Example 3-The facts are the same as in Example 2, except you elect to use the flat rate method of withholding on the bonus. You withhold 25% of $1,000, or $250, from wages subject to withholding, the employee’s bonus payment.

Example 4-The facts are the same as in Example 2, except you elect to pay a second bonus of $2,000 on May 28. Using supplemental wage withholding method 1-b, you:

1. Add the first and second bonus amounts to the amount of wages from the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) ($2,000 + $1,000 + $2,000 = $5,000).

2. Determine the amount of withholding on the combined $5,000 amount to be $811 using the wage bracket tables.

3. Subtract the amounts withheld from wages on the most recent base salary pay date (May 1) and the amounts withheld from the first bonus payment from the combined withholding ($811 – $195 – $150 = $466).

4. Withhold $466 from the second bonus payment.

The “Simple” Example

As you can see the amount of tax on overtime may vary depending on the method used.  Even if your employer decides to simply add the amounts together for taxation, there is a Wage Bracket Method and a more complicated Percentage Method.  For simplicity (a bit late maybe) we will use the Wage Bracket Method for our own example.

If you normally earn $1550.00 (gross taxable income) biweekly then your withholding would be $183.00 (with one dependant claimed). If you then earn an extra $300.00 in overtime the tax is $258.00 (1550.00 + 300.00 = 1850.00). This adds $75.00 to your tax for the paycheck with the additional hours. That is 11.8% on the regular wage while paying 25% for the additional 300.00 if you break it up (183/1550=.118) and (75/300=.25). More accurately the total tax is 13.9% (258/1850=.139).  The overtime will put you in a higher tax bracket for a given pay period.

If you earned this $1550.00 throughout the year you would earn approximately $37,200.00 annually. And if you earned $1200.00 in overtime for the year the total is now $38,400.00. The tax (according to the IRS Tax Calculator) would be $3179 or 8.5% for the $37,200 while the tax on the $38,400 is estimated to be $3359 or 8.7%. The difference is $180.00. Using the break up method you pay 15% on the overtime pay (180/12000=.15) which is still 10% less than the 25% of a single pay period overtime tax.

All of this to say you will pay more tax on more income. The statement that you get taxed more for overtime is not necessarily accurate in that there is not a single rule to tax overtime using a different method. The choice for the amount withheld per pay period is up to your employer. 

New OK Law Cuts Wasteful Benefit Spending

OKLAHOMA CITY (November 30, 2011) – A new law allowing state employees to opt out of state-funded insurance is already generating savings of more than half-a-million dollars, state Rep. Dustin Roberts announced today.

“Until this year, lawmakers and state employees were required to accept state-funded insurance even when they already had private coverage,” said Roberts, R-Durant. “That was a ridiculous waste of limited state dollars and I am pleased the reform I authored is now generating savings.”

House Bill 1062, by Roberts, allows legislators and state employees to opt out of state-funded insurance coverage if they already have policies through the private sector. The law took effect at the start of November.

So far, 91 people have opted out of state-funded coverage. It is conservatively estimated those opt-outs will result in at least $536,150 in savings, although final numbers are not yet available.

A fiscal analysis developed during session estimated that 2 percent to 5 percent of state employees may eventually opt out of state-funded coverage, ultimately saving $1.5 million to $3.5 million annually. 

“Obviously, when you are dealing with a state budget of $6.5 billion, the savings achieved by this legislation alone will not reverse the cuts imposed in recent years,” Roberts said. “However, every dollar saved is a dollar that can now be used for schools, roads and public safety. Good budgeting requires finding savings wherever you can in ways big and small, and I am proud to have eliminated wasteful spending in state government.”

OK General Revenue Fund on the Rise

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oil revenue is coming in at a faster pace than last year, providing an unexpected boost to General Revenue Fund collections, Office of State Finance Director Preston Doerflinger said Tuesday as he released the OSF's monthly revenue report.

"We saw increases in all major sources of revenue in October and the General Revenue Fund received a deposit from gross production oil taxes 2 months earlier than occurred in 2010," Doerflinger said.

"Increased production in the oil patch, combined with the addition of thousands of manufacturing jobs in the last several months, are among the main reasons our economy is performing stronger than most other states," he said.

The state's unemployment rate stood at 5.9 percent in September, which is well below the national rate of 9.1 percent. The heightened activity in the oil fields is illustrated by the fact that, during the first 4 months of the 2012 fiscal year, the state had 48 to 64 more rigs operating compared with the same four months of 2011.

Total collections for the General Revenue Fund in October were $408.1 million. This amount was $24.3 million and 6.3 percent above collections for the same month in 2010 and $9.3 million or 2.3 percent above the monthly estimate for 2011.

The GRF received a $7.6 million deposit from oil gross production taxes in October after the cap of $150 million was reached for funds earmarked principally to education.

After the cap is hit, 81.4 percent of oil taxes go into the GRF. A year ago, a dramatic rise in oil prices led to the cap being reached in December, earlier than expected. This year, the cap was reached four months earlier than anticipated.

"You can't overestimate the impact of a boon in oil drilling as it leads to increases in income, sales and motor vehicle tax collections, as well as severance taxes," said Doerflinger, Secretary of Finance. "But it's important to remember that pending energy industry tax rebates and credits this fiscal year will substantially reduce the amount of money that would normally flow into the General Revenue Fund.

"Overall, we are expecting that Fiscal Year 2013 budget will be relatively flat, which is an improvement over the recent series of revenue shortfalls linked to the national recession. If oil revenue collections remain strong and natural gas receipts pick up, our budget outlook could improve. We'll just have to wait and see."

Governor Mary Fallin said, "Oklahoma’s economy and tax revenues have both been growing steadily, and that's great news for the state. The pro-business, pro-growth policies we have been pursuing are paying off. Additionally, the energy sector in Oklahoma continues to thrive, creating private-sector jobs while boosting revenues for the state. Moving forward, the Oklahoma First Energy Plan will continue to help build that momentum.

"Despite the recent growth and upwards trends, however, we're still feeling the effects of the recession. Revenue continues to be below 2008 pre-recession levels, and one-time funding sources that previously have been used to balance the budget are no longer available. That means agencies will have to continue to work on maximizing efficiency and doing more with less."

Income Taxes

Corporate and individual income taxes grew by 6.1 percent over the previous year which equates to $9.5 million more.

Sales Taxes

Sales tax collections produced $147 million for the General Revenue Fund, $12.8 million or 9.5 percent more than last year.

Gross Production Taxes

October taxes on natural gas accounted for $24.4 million in General Revenue Fund receipts, which was $2.4 million or 10.9 percent above the prior year and oil tax collections to the General Revenue Fund for October were $7.6 million. No collections were deposited into the General Revenue Fund from this source in October of last year and none were estimated to be received in the current fiscal year until February. Overall, gross production oil collections to all funds for July through October are up $58.1 million or 42.8 percent over collections from the same time period of the prior year.

Motor vehicle taxes

This tax source produced $17.1 million, which was $4.1 million or 31 percent above the prior year and $820,000 or 5 percent above the estimate.

Other Revenue

Other revenue produced $73.6 million in September. This was $30.3 million or 70.2 percent above the prior year and $14.7 million or 25 percent above the estimate.

Anytime the state funds increase normally reflects increases in income, spending and production.  Added to the fact that the state has a balanced budget amendment the federal government should take heed of Oklahoma’s growth and overall management of the peoples’ money.