Massive increases reported of Oklahoma oil and gas tax revenues

The state government in Oklahoma reports General Revenue Fund collections for January came in nearly 9 percent higher than the monthly estimate. Gross Production Tax revenues from oil and gas were nearly 98 percent higher than the estimate.

The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported the oil and gas taxes totaled $77 million and were $38.1 million above the estimate. They were also $50.2 million or 187.5 percent higher than the previous January.

The natural gas collections were $35.9 million which were $7 million or 24.1 percent over the estimate and $13.5 million or 60.5 percent over January of 2018.

Oil tax collections were $41.1 million which were $31.1 million or 309.8 percent over the estimate. The oil collections were also $36.7 million or 825.8 percent over the previous January.

As for the General Revenue Fund collections for the month, they totaled $714.5 million which was $58.1 million or 8.8 percent over the estimate. The total was also $118.5 million or 19.9 percent over January 2018 collections. The total collections for the first seven months of the fiscal year are $540.6 million or 16.6 percent over January 2018.

“Net income tax and net gross production collections both remain strong after seven months, holding at 8 percent and 51.9 percent, respectively, over the current year-to-date estimate,” said Office of Management and Enterprise Services Acting Director John Budd. “The October energy sector downturn has yet to cause significant impact to General Revenue Fund collections, though, and will likely be felt in the remaining months of the fiscal year.”

“It should also be noted, sales tax and motor vehicle contributions to the GRF both turned negative during January and have remained flat through the fiscal year when compared to the estimate,” said Budd. “The fact that both of these tax categories are underperforming is a trend that we will watch closely.”

Major tax categories in January contributed the following amounts to the GRF:

  • Total income tax collections of $312.5 million were $29.6 million, or 10.5 percent, above the estimate and $24.4 million, or 8.5 percent, above the prior year. Individual income tax collections of $312.0 million were $38.1 million, or 13.9 percent, above the estimate and $23.9 million, or 8.3 percent, above the prior year. Corporate income tax collections of $0.5 million were $8.6 million or 94.5 percent, below the estimate. Collections from this source were net zero in Jan. of 2018.
  • Sales tax collections of $191.3 million were $6.9 million, or 3.5 percent, below the estimate and $4.2 million, or 2.2 percent, above the prior year.
  • Motor vehicle tax collections of $18.3 million were $0.6 million, or 3.1 percent, below the estimate and $0.4 million, or 2.5 percent, above the prior year.
  • Other revenue collections of $115.4 million were $2.1 million, or 1.8 percent, below the estimate and $39.2 million, or 51.6 percent, above the prior year.