On the Hunt for Corporate Oklahoma Expats in Texas

• Joe Wertz
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  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

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Oklahomans have been hearing variations on the same theme for more than a decade:

“No-income tax Texas gets all the business.”

The arguments: 1) corporations or businesses move from Oklahoma to Texas because it lacks an income tax, or, 2) corporate and business leaders relocating from other states choose Texas over Oklahoma because of income tax concerns.

We haven’t found either — and we’ve been asking around and looking for months.

We’ve asked top elected officials, economists, agency directors, think-tank academics and business leaders.

But we keep coming up empty.

There have been vague mentions of acquaintances and anecdotal, anonymous references, but nothing solid. And never any names.

There is a lot of migration from Oklahoma to Texas, census and IRS data show, but other factors complicate those statistics. Both are energy states, so there’s a lot of natural back-and-forth during routine business. Dallas itself is big, and serves as a hub for business and commerce throughout the region.

A state’s tax policy is a miniscule consideration when business leaders are considering a relocation, a half-dozen economists tell us.

But Department of Commerce officials swear having an income tax means Oklahoma isn’t even invited to the table when businesses go shopping for new locations.

More simply, Texas and Oklahoma share a big border.

We Need Your Help:

• If you know of a company, business or corporation that has moved from Oklahoma to Texas because of that state’s lack of an income tax: let us know.

• If you know of a company, business or corporation that — while in the process of choosing a state to relocate to — discounted Oklahoma because of the income tax or other tax issues: let us know.
• If you know of a company, business or corporation that left Oklahoma for any other state because of the income tax or other tax issues: let us know.

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