State closes out fiscal year with another drop in gross revenue collections

Miller served up more bad news with a report showing gross revenue collections for June were down 7.4 percent from the prior year.

During fiscal year 2016, which ended June 30, gross revenue brought in $11.1 billion, or 7.2 percent below collections for the prior 12-month period, a drop of nearly $863 million from the previous year.

“It marks the lowest 12-month total in 39 months since March 2013 and is down by more than $980 million — or more than 8 percent — from the last peak of $12.1 billion in February 2015,” Miller said.

The state also reversed a long trend in its jobless rate, he said.

“After almost 13 years with unemployment rates below the national average, Oklahoma’s monthly jobless rate climbed by two-tenths of one percentage point in May to match the U.S. rate,” Miller said. “The state and national rates were set at 4.7 percent in May, the first time both numbers have been the same since September 2003.”

Miller, former chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Committee, said next year’s budget will still follow the downward trend, but moderating some, especially in the area of gross production.

“Clearly, oil prices have moderated and come back up pretty significantly over the last couple of quarters,” he said.

Lawmakers had $1.3 billion less to spend in crafting a fiscal year 2017 budget due to depressed energy prices, tax cuts and a failure to significantly reduce the number of tax credits and incentives given in hopes of generating economic activity.

“Hopefully, we have hit bottom and the numbers will not go back there,” Miller said. “And if that is the case, I think we won’t see the budget gap next year that we saw this year. There may still be one, of course. And it is way too early to try to predict those numbers, but I hope the worse is behind us and the budget has recovered somewhat.”

Miller said it is difficult and counter-productive to assign blame for the state’s budget predicament. He said the state has learned from past downturns, as evidenced by the creation of the Rainy Day Fund.

June gross receipts brought in $925.7 million, down $73.6 million from the same month last year.

Gross income tax collections, a combination of individual and corporate income taxes, generated $353.4 million, a drop of 13.1 percent from the prior June.

Sales tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, totaled $351.1 million in June, down 3.7 percent.

Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas generated $25.5 million in June, a drop of 29.1 percent from last June.

Collections from gross production taxes remain below prior year numbers but have risen slightly for two months in a row after hitting a 17-year low in April. June receipts are based on oil prices in April, when the spot prices of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was $40.75 per barrel.

Motor vehicle taxes produced $65.8 million, down 5.1 percent from the prior year.

Other collections, consisting of about 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, horse race gambling and alcoholic beverages, produced $129.9 million, or 6.1 percent more than last June.

Gross Receipts to treasury

Dollar figures in millions

* includes collections for counties and municipalities

** gross collections from OTC