SCOTT MEACHAM
OKLAHOMA STATE TREASURER
For Immediate Release: May 12, 2009
April Revenue Collections Continue to Reflect
Oklahoma’s Sluggish Economy
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma’s continued participation in the national recession is
reflected in April revenue reports as collections again dropped below the prior year and failed to
meet estimates, State Treasurer Scott Meacham said today.
Preliminary reports show general revenue fund collections for April were $513.4 million.
That amount is:
• $141.3 million or 21.6 percent below the prior year; and
• $137 million or 21.1 percent below the estimate.
For the first 10 months of the fiscal year, collections total $4.72 billion. That is $107.9
million or 2.2 percent below the prior year and $171.4 million or 3.5 percent below the estimate.
“The April numbers were not particularly good. We experienced lower income tax, motor
vehicle and gross production collections that are reflective of the national recession and its
continued effects in Oklahoma,” Meacham said. “We did see some bright news this month as
sales tax collections were higher than the same month last year.”
Meacham said the trend with falling revenue collections now appears to be deeper than
Tax Commission projections presented in February and the margin to avoid a revenue shortfall in
the final month of the fiscal year has become very thin.
“The legislature is limited to appropriating only 95 percent of the annual estimate and
year-to-date collections stand at 96.5 percent of the estimate,” he said. “Collections next month
would have to fall more than 20.5 percent below the monthly estimate before we would face
constitutionally-mandated across-the-board cuts to state agencies.”
In April, net income taxes, a combination of personal and corporate income taxes,
produced $281.9 million, which is $78 million or 21.7 percent below the prior year and $77.8
million or 21.6 percent below the estimate.
(more)
Personal income tax produced $257 million, which is $71.6 million or 21.8 percent below
the prior year and $55.4 million or 17.7 percent below the estimate. Corporate income tax
collections were $24.9 million, which is $6.5 million or 20.7 percent below the prior year and
$22.4 million or 47.4 percent below the estimate.
The state sales tax produced $125.3 million for the month, which is $14.6 million or 13.2
percent above the prior year but $7.1 million or 5.3 percent below the estimate.
The gross production tax on oil and natural gas yielded $32.5 million for the month,
which is $60.1 million or 64.9 percent below the prior year and $38.3 million or 54.1 percent
below the estimate.
Motor vehicle taxes produced $13.7 million in April, which is $11.4 million or 45.5
percent below the prior year and $8.9 million or 39.4 percent below the estimate.
For April, investments by Treasurer Meacham yielded $13.5 million. That is $0.9 million
or 6.9 percent above the same month of the prior year.
Other revenue, including Meacham’s investment earnings along with taxes on insurance,
inheritance, alcoholic beverages and others produced $60 million for the month. This is $6.4
million or 9.6 percent below the prior year and $4.9 million or 7.5 percent below the estimate.
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For more information contact:
Tim Allen, Deputy Treasurer for Policy and Administration, (405) 522-4212