(The Center Square) - Oklahoma is the 23rd freest state in the nation and one of the most improved states since 2000, according to a report measuring personal and economic freedoms across the country.
The Freedom in the 50 States Index is released annually by the CATO Institute, a libertarian research organization. Oklahoma’s vast improvements for personal freedom have helped the state climb from the bottom ten states in the early 2000s to 23 this year, the report said. That’s higher than most of its neighbors, including Arkansas, New Mexico and Kansas, but lower than Texas.
The Sooner State is in the top ten for its tax burden as a percentage of income, which is 5.1%. The local tax burden comes to 3.2%. While both have risen over the past decade, they remain lower than average, the report said.
While the state’s government employment is higher than the national average, it has come down from over 16% of private employment in 2009 to 14.4%, the report shows.
Due to light regulation, Oklahoma also does well in land use and is a top-two state in this category. Meanwhile, it received an average score for its labor laws.
“Some backsliding took place in 2016 after a 2014 repeal of mandated workers’ compensation coverage. Moreover, the state has a stricter-than-federal anti-discrimination law and a long-standing ban on noncompete agreements,” the report said.
The report found that occupational licensing is a mixed bag in Oklahoma, with nurses losing autonomous practice in 2014 but physician assistants and dental hygienists remaining relatively free.
The report shows a worsening situation for mass incarcerations, with victimless crime arrests on the upswing since 2013, according to the report. And while Oklahoma enacted medical marijuana in 2018, small-scale cultivation of marijuana carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years.
Oklahoma shows improvement in its educational freedom with a limited voucher law passed in 2010 and a tax benefit for contributions to private scholarship funds in 2011. Public school choice was also enacted in 2021, and homeschools and private schools enjoy very light regulation, according to the report.
Gun rights are also high with the constitutional carry bill passed in 2019.
The report's worst states for personal and economic freedom were Oregon, New Jersey, California, Hawaii and New York. New Hampshire, Florida, South Dakota, Nevada and Arizona were the freest states.
via Oklahoma's Center Square News