Tulsa World
By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Published: 3/15/20112:27 AM
Last Modified: 3/15/20115:57 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY - State general fund revenues continued to run ahead of expectations in February, the Office of State Finance reported on Monday, but were still well below the pre-recession and pre-tax cut levels of 2007 and 2008.
"These numbers should be kept in context, understanding income tax collections are still 32 percent below collections in February of 2008," said state Finance Director Preston Doerflinger. "They do, however, indicate that we are experiencing a gradual recovery."
General revenue fund collections for February totaled $247.1 million, or $25.7 million more than for the same month a year ago.
In 2007, however, February collections totaled $305 million; in 2008, following a state income tax cut, the total was $303 million.
Last month's collections were about 4 percent above projections, with stronger-than-expected retail sales leading the way.
State sales tax collections were $126.6 million, an 11 percent increase over the previous year and 5 percent better than projected.
"We had double-digit growth again in sales tax receipts, compared with February a year ago, and it came when sales tax collections of other states trailed off," Doerflinger said... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Tue, March 15, 2011
by John Cox