Budget & Tax

A look at the August 2018 economic report

September 17, 2018

Curtis Shelton

The Oklahoma State Treasurer, along with the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), released their monthly report for August’s revenue collections.

Total Gross Receipts collected in August were $995.1 million—an increase of 13.1%, or $115.4 million, from the same month in the prior year. Similarly, the General Revenue Fund grew 9.9% from the previous year, coming in at $454.6 million.

The General Revenue Fund (GRF) beat the estimate by 6.6%. This is the first time this fiscal year the GRF estimate was beaten. Since July (the first month of the 2019 fiscal year), GRF collections were 2.1% below the estimate. Combining July and August, GRF collections for the new fiscal year are now $20.6 million ahead of the estimate. This estimate is what lawmakers used to determine the current state budget.

Total Gross Receipts have produced over $100 million in year-over-year growth despite the record-breaking collections brought in last year. August marks the first month of new revenue from legislative changes made during the 2018 session. New revenue from legislative changes amounted to $18.3 million, or 16%, of this month’s growth. As Oklahoma State Treasurer Ken Miller states, “Clearly, Oklahoma is doing much more than ‘fine’ with gross receipts expanding at a double-digit pace, even when recent state tax increases are taken out.”

Note: These are preliminary numbers compiled from the Oklahoma State Treasurer’s economic reports and press releases and OMES Monthly General Revenue Reports.