OKLAHOMA CITY — General Revenue Fund collections in February totaled $349.8 million, which is $1.9 million, or 0.5%, above the monthly estimate. This is $22.5 million, or 6.9%, above collections in February of 2020. Total GRF collections through the first eight months of fiscal year 2021 are $4.3 billion, which is $11.1 million, or 0.3%, above the estimate, and $99.4 million, or 2.4%, above prior year collections for the same period.
February collections were slightly above estimate, driven primarily by strong collections in individual income tax. With an earlier deadline for income tax filing compared to prior year and individuals seeking to recover their federal Covid-19 economic impact credits, earlier filing is expected this year.
Oil and gas collections continue to be the weakest segment of general revenue collections. Due to the time lag between actual production and collections to general revenue, recent demand due to a cold February is not reflected by these collections.
With more federal stimulus expected in the near term, continued momentum in Oklahoma's vaccination program, and improvement in oil prices, we are moving in the right direction to meet the FY 2021 projections made at the last Board of Equalization meeting.
“We remain encouraged by year-to-date collections, as totals remain higher than original estimates. This again, in part, is due to the level of income tax collections we’ve seen,” said OMES Executive Director Steven Harpe. “In the most recent Board of Equalization meeting, it became evident the state was in better financial standing than previously anticipated. Because of this, the Oklahoma Legislature will have approximately $9.64 billion available to appropriate during this session for the next fiscal year.”
Major tax categories in February contributed the following amounts to the GRF:
- Total income tax collections of $91.6 million were $43.3 million, or 89.8%, above the estimate and $42.5 million, or 86.7%, above the prior year.
Individual income tax collections of $91.6 million were $43.8 million, or 91.5%, above the estimate and $42.5 million, or 86.7%, above the prior year.
Corporate income tax collections were zero and were zero in the prior year. - Sales tax collections of $169.3 million were $1.3 million, or 0.7%, below the estimate and $10.3 million, or 6.5%, above the prior year.
- Gross production tax collections of $27.6 million were $33.1 million, or 54.6%, below the estimate and $36.9 million, or 57.2%, below the prior year.
Natural Gas collections of $14.5 million were $8.0 million, or 35.5%, below the estimate and $4.8 million, or 25.1%, below the prior year.
Oil collections of $13.1 million were $25.2 million, or 65.7%, below the estimate and $32.1 million, or 71.0%, below the prior year. - Motor vehicle tax collections of $2.1 million were $0.5 million, or 28.0%, above the estimate and $0.6 million, or 23.5%, below the prior year.
- Other revenue collections of $59.1 million were $7.5 million, or 11.3%, below the estimate and $7.2 million, or 13.9%, above the prior year.
As state government’s main operating fund, the GRF is the key indicator of state government’s fiscal status and the predominant funding source for the annual appropriated state budget. GRF collections are revenues that remain for the appropriated state budget after rebates, refunds, other mandatory apportionments and after sales and use taxes are remitted back to municipalities. In contrast, gross collections, reported by the State Treasurer, are all revenues remitted to the Oklahoma Tax Commission.
