Finance officials report Oklahoma collections top estimate

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Collections to Oklahoma’s main state operating fund exceeded the official estimate by nearly 7 percent in August, buoyed mostly by better-than-expected individual income tax collections.

The Office of Management and Enterprise Services released figures on Tuesday that show collections to the General Revenue Fund totaled $455 million last month. That’s an increase of 6.6 percent from the monthly estimate and nearly 10 percent over collections during the same month last year.

Despite the good news, OMES Director Denise Northrup noted that collections from the gross production tax on oil and natural gas were nearly 10 percent below the estimate. Motor vehicle tax collections also were below the estimate.

The biggest boost came from individual income tax collections of $157.5 million, which was nearly 23 percent above the estimate.