Gross production tax collections on oil and gas were up again in March as Oklahoma’s general revenue fund collections increased as well.
The Office of Enterprise Management Services released figures this week showing gross production collections were $74.1 million for March or $26.7 million above the estimate. The collections were also 136.4 percent or $42.8 million more than one year earlier.
“March gross production revenues are currently above the estimate as a result of healthy oil prices and steady production in our area,” said Office of Management and Enterprise Services Director John Budd. “The existing fiscal year budget was built on oil prices of around $53 per barrel, so current prices indicate we will finish strong as FY 2019 winds down.”
Natural gas collections for March were $33.8 million and $8.2 million more than March of 2018.
Oil collections totaled $40.2 million or nearly 216 percent higher than the estimate and much higher than March of last year. The collections last month ended up $34.6 million or 607.0% higher than a year ago.
The General Revenue Fund collections for the month totaled $508.9 million or 6.7 percent more than the monthly estimate. They were also $103.million higher than March of last year.
Total collections for the first nine months of the fiscal year are nearly $300 million over the estimate and $735.1 million over the prior year collections.
“As I’ve said before, the year-to-date numbers are our best economic indicator,” said Budd. “We’ve been hovering around 5-6% above the estimate for a few months now, which is a healthy amount of revenue growth and indicates the state budget is on track to meet or exceed February Board of Equalization projections.”
Major tax categories in March contributed the following amounts to the GRF:
- Total income tax collections of $141.2 million were $5.1 million, or 3.5%, below the estimate and $15.8 million, or 12.6%, above the prior year.
Individual income tax collections of $127.5 million were $2.7 million, or 2.1%, below the estimate and $2.1 million, or 1.6%, above the prior year.
Corporate income tax collections of $13.7 million were $2.4 million, or 15.1%, below the estimate. Collections from this source were net zero in March of 2018. - Sales tax collections of $173.8 million were $3.8 million, or 2.2%, below the estimate and $6.3 million, or 3.7%, above the prior year.
- Gross production tax collections of $74.1 million were $26.7 million, or 56.4%, above the estimate and $42.8 million, or 136.4%, above the prior year.
- Motor vehicle tax collections of $17.9 million were $1.2 million, or 6.4%, above the estimate and $1.3 million, or 6.5%, below the prior year.
- Other revenue collections of $101.9 million were $15.2 million, or 17.5%, above the estimate and $39.8 million, or 64.2%, above the prior year.