GRF receipts miss estimate by 5.3% in May
Corporate income tax yields no collections after refunds
OKLAHOMA CITY — General Revenue
Fund (GRF) collections in May fell 5.3 percent short of the official estimate
after another month of lower than projected corporate income tax collections.
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 state budget. Made up of nearly 70 revenue sources, the
GRF is where all taxes flow except those dedicated to specific programs.
May GRF collections of $449.5 million were $5.9 million,
or 1.3 percent, below prior year collections and $25.3 million, or 5.3 percent,
below the official estimate upon which the Fiscal Year 2014 appropriated state
budget is based. FY 14 year-to-date GRF collections total $5 billion, which is
$9.1 million, or 0.2 percent, below prior year collections and $251.8 million,
or 4.8 percent, below the estimate.
May’s decline was driven by continued shortfalls in
corporate income tax collections to the GRF. Oklahoma collected $9.1 million in
corporate income taxes in May, but none of it reached the GRF because refunds
totaled $15.4 million. As a result, May became the third month this fiscal year
during which the GRF received no corporate income tax revenue.
“It’s been a wild year for the corporate category,” said
Secretary of Finance, Administration and Information Technology Preston L.
Doerflinger. “Corporate is always volatile, so no one should rush to
conclusions or point fingers at businesses for following tax law. The net
annual growth in every other major category shows our economy is still strong
and further underscores the noneconomic nature of the isolated revenue issues
seen elsewhere.”
With one month remaining in FY 14, combined sales, gross
production and motor vehicle tax collections to the GRF are above prior year
collections by $183.7 million. However, those gains have been largely offset by
corporate income tax declines. YTD corporate income tax collections to the GRF total
$246.4 million, which is $135.4 million, or 35.5 percent, below prior year
collections and $151 million, or 38 percent, below the estimate.
“Other states are reporting similar corporate declines
and many of our colleagues in those states share cautious optimism that at
least part of this is temporary,” Doerflinger said. “States are seeing inflated
effects of federal tax law changes that should even out over time. On top of
that, Oklahoma may be seeing some level of natural correction in corporate
collections this year after having our strongest year of the millennium for
corporate collections last year. A lot of factors are hitting at once, so we should
be cautious in our assessments.”
At February’s Board of Equalization meeting, Gov. Mary
Fallin asked Doerflinger and Treasurer Ken Miller to develop recommendations to
improve state revenue forecasting. The recommendations will be presented to the
board at its next meeting June 16.
“The state’s revenue forecast was way off this year and I
believe we’ve identified some practical ways to remedy that in the near future,”
Doerflinger said.
Doerflinger is director of the Office of Management and
Enterprise Services, which issues the monthly GRF reports.
Major tax categories in May contributed the
following amounts to the GRF:
-
Total income tax collections
of $132.4 million were $49.1 million, or 27 percent, less than prior year collections
and $55.5 million, or 29.5 percent, below the estimate.
The entire GRF contribution was from individual income tax collections,
which were $43.9 million, or 24.9 percent, less than prior year
collections and $49.8 million, or 27.3 percent, below the estimate.
Corporate income tax collections were entirely paid out in refunds.
-
Sales tax collections
of $170.1 million were $12.4 million, or 7.9 percent, more than prior year
collections and $1.1 million, or 0.7 percent, above the estimate.
-
Gross production tax
collections of $55.2 million were $25.7 million, or 87.4 percent, more
than prior year collections and $31 million, or 128.5 percent, above the
estimate.
Natural gas collections of $18.1 million were $16.8 million, or 1,222.9
percent, above the estimate. No
natural gas collections were deposited into the GRF for May of 2013.
Oil collections of $37 million were $7.6 million, or 25.8 percent, more
than prior year collections and $14.3 million, or 62.6 percent, above the
estimate.
-
Motor vehicle tax
collections of $18.4 million were $1.6 million, or 9.2 percent, more than
prior year collections and $0.7 million, or 3.7 percent, below the
estimate.
-
Other revenue
collections of $73.5 million were $3.5 million, or 5.1 percent, more than
prior year collections and $1.2 million, or 1.6 percent, below the
estimate.
Monthly revenue tables are available on the OMES website:
http://www.ok.gov/OSF/News/May_2014_Financial_Report_Data_Tables.html.
Media Contact
JOHN ESTUS Director of Public Affairs (405) 521-3097 | john.estus@omes.ok.gov
About the Office of Management and Enterprise Services
The Office of Management and Enterprise Services provides financial, property, purchasing, human resources and information technology services to all state agencies, and assists the Governor’s Office on budgetary policy matters. Our mission: To lead, support, and serve. For more information, visit OMES.OK.gov.
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