The downturn in oil and gas prices are a direct reason why the state treasury failed to grow when compared to 2014 numbers. State Treasurer Ken Miller reported Thursday that 2015 Gross Receipts fell by three percent compared to 2014 figures. The receipts totaled $11.65 billion. It is the first time since the end of the Great Recession in 2009 that annual receipts were less than the previous year’s collections.
“Gross collections show all four major revenue streams were impacted by the downturn in the energy industry,” Miller said. “After slowing a little last month, the downward trend of revenue collections accelerated in December.”
For the month of December 2015, gross receipts totaled $948.9 million, down by nearly nine percent from December 2014.
Over the past year, oil and gas production taxes have been lower than the same month of the prior year. December collections from the oil and gas industry are almost 48 percent lower than last December. The taxes collected are calculated on October production activity when the average price of West Texas Intermediate crude was $46.22 a barrel.
According to Lynn Gray with the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission mining and logging jobs have been reduced by 12,900 positions in Oklahoma. Manufacturing, which is related to energy production, showed a reduction of 7.900 jobs.
Gross production taxes in December brought in $37.71 million down by 4.9 percent from December 2014. For the year, oil and gas tax collections were $474.26, down by 46.3 percent from 2014 collections.
