(Oklahoma City, OK) Tax revenue continued contracting in May, state Treasurer Randy McDaniel said Thursday, though not as sharply as in April.
McDaniel said gross receipts to the treasury in May were $923.1 million, which was 14.1% or $150.5 million less than the same month a year ago.
Gross receipts fell more than 30% in April, in part because the deadline for paying state income taxes was postponed until July 15.
Gross receipts to the treasury are all taxes paid to the state, including those collected on behalf of local governments and money subsequently returned to taxpayers as refunds and rebates.
“The Oklahoma economy, as reflected in state revenue collections, was significantly impacted by the pandemic during the month,” McDaniel said in a news release. “However, the picture in May is not as conspicuous as the April report, which included the postponement until July of income tax reporting.”
Two revenue streams, personal income tax and use tax, were actually up slightly over the same month a year ago, but sales tax collections were off 12%, and the always-volatile gross production receipts dropped 60%.
Income taxes and sales tax are by far the state’s two leading revenue sources, with sales tax pulling double duty as the primary funder of municipal governments.
Gross production tax receipts, while not nearly as large a direct source of revenue, is viewed as an important leading indicator of the state’s economic activity.
Use taxes are essentially taxes paid on good bought out of state for use in Oklahoma. That includes online sales, though construction and oil field equipment are the leading sources of use taxes.
