Oklahoma City’s January Report finds General Fund collections down
Published: January 29th, 2020
The January sales and use tax report shows General Fund collections in Oklahoma City were below the monthly projection and declined compared to the same month last year.The General Fund pays for the City’s day-to-day operations. Sales tax is the General Fund’s largest single source of revenue, and use tax is the second-largest.
The January report includes tax collections for the last half of November and estimated collections in the first half of December. January is the seventh month of fiscal year 2020.
Sales tax summary: General Fund sales tax collections for January were about $21.2 million. That’s around $1.7 million (7.5 percent) below the projection and $1.2 million (5.5 percent) below the same month last year. General Fund sales tax revenue is 0.5 percent (about $829,000) below the fiscal year-to-date projection.
Use tax summary: General Fund use tax collections, which typically fluctuate more than sales tax collections, were about $5.3 million. That’s around $1.5 million (22.1 percent) below the projection and $1.2 million (18.2%) below the same month last year. General Fund use tax revenue is 1.4 percent (about $533,000) below the fiscal year-to-date projection.
About sales and use tax: Sales tax comes from retail sales in Oklahoma City. Use tax is charged at the same rate and comes from goods purchased elsewhere and shipped or brought to Oklahoma City, like online sales or equipment not available from Oklahoma suppliers.
The overall sales tax rate in most of Oklahoma City is 8.625 [ercent, and 4.125 cents of each dollar in taxable sales goes to the City. Of that, 2 ¼ cents is allocated to the City’s General Fund, one cent goes to “Better Street, Safer City” sales tax proects, three-fourths of a cent is dedicated to Police and Fire, and one-eighth of a cent goes to the Zoo. The rest of the sales tax belongs to the state.
The City collected around $45.8 million in total sales and use tax revenue during the January reporting period. including collections for the General Fund, Police, Fire, the Zoo and Better Streets, Safer City.
Note: Oklahoma City businesses located in Cleveland and Canadian Counties collect a slightly higher sales tax rate due to county sales tax.
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