Tulsa's Sales Tax Down 10%

The city of Tulsa's sales tax receipts dropped roughly 10 percent from the same period last year, but additional budget cuts are not planned, according to the mayor's office.

The revenue reduction was only slightly off the city's budget estimates, precluding the need for additional cuts.

“Our revenue estimates are right on track, so further budget cuts will not be triggered at this point.  We are monitoring the data closely,” said Mayor Kathy Taylor.

According to the Oklahoma Tax Commission, Tulsa received $16,641,187 in sales taxes, compared to $18,578,447 for the same period last year, a decrease of $1,937,259, or 10.43 percent. That amount is 1.76 percent below the budget estimate of $16,940,000.

 First quarter year-to-date sales tax collections are $49,988,565, or 9.02 percent below last year’s collections of $54,945,669. However, that is only 0.77 percent below the budget estimate of $50,374,000.

Use taxes, which businesses pay on purchases of equipment, totaled $1,522,836 for the period. That is a decline of 10.79 percent, or $184,220, compared to $1,707,056 during the same period in 2008. That amount, however, is 1.19 percent higher than the budget estimate of $1,505,000.

Year-to-date, $4,592,522 in use tax has been distributed to the city. That is a 6.49 percent decline from the $4,911,060 collected last year, but it is above the year-to-date budget estimate of $4,482,000.

The distributions represent sales taxes collected from mid July to mid August and use taxes collected in August.