Oklahoma outlook still good despite lower oil and gas tax revenue

Gross collections for August were 2.8 percent below August of last year.

As with the two previous negative months, lower gross production tax collections are the cause, Miller said.

Collections on oil and natural gas production are 53.7 percent lower for August compared to a year ago, generating $46.92 million.

Gross production taxes make up about 10 percent of the general revenue fund, Miller said.

Sales tax collections are up by 10.4 percent.

"Spending by businesses and consumers continues to be strong," Miller said. "Unfortunately, the growth in that area is insufficient to keep the overall trend from dipping into negative territory again."

Despite the drop in gross revenue collections, Miller said the state is still seeing a healthy rebound from the recession.

Nothing in the numbers indicates that the state is poised for a slowdown, he said.

However, the significant and lengthy drop in gross production revenue could eventually have some spillover effects on other areas, such as employment and personal income, Miller said.

About one-third of the state's economy is tied to the energy industry, he said.

Gross revenue collections for August were $819.55 million, down 2.8 percent.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes, brought in $229.46 million, a drop of 3.8 percent from the previous August.

Personal income tax collections for the month were $221.43 million, down 5.2 percent.

According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the downturn was the result of a timing issue involving deadlines for payments of taxes withheld from paychecks, Deputy Treasurer Tim Allen said.

Corporate collections were $8.03 million, up by 58.9 percent.

"Corporate varies significantly from month to month," Allen said.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, totaled $357.11 million, up 10.4 percent.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $64.74 million, up 7.4 percent. Other collections produced $121.32 million, up 1.9 percent.

That category consists of about 60 sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages.

Original Print Headline: State outlook still good despite lower oil, gas tax receipts

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Barbara Hoberock 405-528-2465
barbara.hoberock@tulsaworld.com

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20120907_16_A12_OLHMIY719387&rss_lnk=16

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