Oklahoma’s gross receipts were down slightly in February year-over-year as sales tax collections rose amid federal stimulus funding, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel said.
“The Oklahoma economy is performing better than many other states,” he said. “While gross receipts indicate the pandemic is constraining business and personal activity, the state is responding to the significant financial and social challenges relatively well.”
Gross receipts to the Treasury were down by less than 1% compared to collections from February 2020. But sales tax receipts are up by almost 8%, McDaniel said.
Collections from all sources in February totaled $950.8 million, down by $6 million, or 0.6%, from February 2020.
Since March of last year, monthly gross receipts have been below prior year collections every month except one, and that was due to the delayed income tax filings in July.
February sales tax collections exceeded those of the prior February by $28.2 million, or 7.9%. That marks only the second time in the past year that sales tax receipts have exceeded those of the same month of the prior year. Both instances are likely due to expenditure of the two rounds of federal stimulus payments, McDaniel said.
Individual income tax collections were up by 2.2% and corporate receipts dropped by 56.4%. Gross production collections are down by 45.9% and motor vehicle receipts were off by 9%.
The largest percentage of revenue growth for the month and past year was from the medical marijuana tax. This tax produced $5.5 million in February, a 64.7% increase over the year.
For the past 12 months, the marijuana tax has produced $60.3 million, a jump of more than 100% from the trailing period.
Combined gross receipts from the past 12 months of $13.11 billion are below collections from the previous 12 months by $601.6 million, or 4.4%, McDaniel said.
All major revenue sources show contraction during the period ranging from gross production taxes at 43.6% to combined income taxes at 0.8%.
McDaniel said the Oklahoma Business Conditions Index in February remained above growth neutral for a third month. The February index was set at 67.1, compared to 65.4 in January, 55.9 in December and 49.4 in November. Numbers above 50 indicate economic expansion is expected during the next three to six months.
