Oil and Gas Tax Revenue Increased Again in October

With revenue from gross production taxes on oil and natural gas totaling $52 million in October, state receipts to the Oklahoma Treasury were up more than 10 percent compared to October 2016.

Treasurer Ken Miller says it was the first double-digit growth in four and a half years and marks the ninth time since the start of the calendar year that monthly Gross Receipts are more than the prior year.

“Such strong revenue growth is encouraging, with all four major revenue sources in positive territory,” said Miller.

The October collections totaled $980.2 million, an increase of 10.6 percent or $94.1 million compared to a year ago. Miller said the last time monthly gross receipts grew by more than 10 percent was in April 2013.

Gross production taxes on oil and gas saw a $17 million increase for the month or 48.4 percent compared to October 2016. The revenue from oil and gas also was up 3.7 percent or $1.9 million compared to September 2017.

The State Tax commission is giving credit to legislation passed in the last regular session for at least $17.8 million in new revenue. About $12 million came from the 1.25 percent state sales tax on motor vehicles. Nearly $2 million came from a $5 fee on motor vehicle registration.

Then there was the elimination and suspension of gross production rebate payments which added $3 million to gross collections for the month. The amount of new revenue gained during the month by boosting the 1 percent horizontal drilling gross production tax rate to 4 percent is not yet available from the tax commission.

Gross revenue for the past 12 months totaled $11.2 billion which is 3.5 percent more than the previous 12 months.