Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ says gross receipts to the state treasury for the past 12 months outpaced the prior year’s revenue in September. But he might be looking over his shoulder at what’s happened to oil and gas tax revenue.
It fell 16% in the past year and the tumble in September was even greater. A further drop in gross production tax revenue, which are receipts from energy sources, was noted in September when it fell from $184.7 million to $93.4 million, a decrease of $91.3 million or 49.4 percent.
While the downward trend from the March record annual high of $17.64 billion continues, the 12-month total of $17.14 billion is still $110.66 million or 0.6 percent higher than the previous year’s revenues.
The September receipts of $1.475 billion were $225 million or 18 percent more than the $1.25 billion generated in August.
When comparing this as a single month to last September, the revenue totals show a drop of $113.6 million or 7.1 percent.
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Other Indicators
The U.S. jobless rate rose to 3.8 percent in August, up by 0.3 percent from the previous month. Oklahoma’s unemployment rate also had a modest increase for the month ending at 2.8 percent, up by 0.1 percent in August.
As measured by the Consumer Price Index, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the annual inflation rate rose in August to 3.7 percent. The energy component of the index still showed a decline over the year, dropping 3.6 percent, but the food index remained higher than the overall inflation rate, ending the month at 4.3 percent.
Regional economic trends continue to indicate cautious optimism. The Creighton University Mid-America Business Conditions Index for the nine-state region increased from 49.5 to 52.5 in September, rising above growth neutral. The Oklahoma component of the index showed solid improvement in September, growing to 53.7 from 46.9 the previous month.
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