Oklahoma City’s May Sales And Use Tax Summary

Press release from the City of Oklahoma City:

May 26, 2020

In the first report showing effects from the COVID-19 economic crash, the May sales and use tax summary shows combined General Fund collections in Oklahoma City were well below the monthly projection and fell significantly 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 May report includes tax collections for the last half of March and estimated collections in the first half of April. May is the 11th month of fiscal year 2020.

Read the General Fund’s full May sales and use tax report here.

Sales tax summary

General Fund sales tax collections for May were about $18.6 million. That’s around $3.7 million (16.8%) below the projection and $3.5 million (16%) below the same month last year.

General Fund sales tax revenue is 2.1% (about $4.9 million) 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 $5.4 million for May. That’s around $109,000 (2.1%) above the projection and $314,000 (6.1%) above the same month last year.

General Fund use tax revenue is 2.6% (about $1.5 million) above 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%, 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 MAPS 4, 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 $41.2 million in total sales and use tax revenue during the May reporting period, including collections for the General Fund, Police, Fire, the Zoo, MAPS 4 and Better Streets, Safer City (a temporary penny sales tax that expired March 31, replaced April 1 by the temporary penny sales tax funding MAPS 4).

Learn more about municipal taxes in Oklahoma City at okc.gov/tax.

Note: Oklahoma City businesses located in Cleveland, Canadian and Pottawatomie counties collect a slightly higher sales tax rate due to county sales tax.

This press release was produced by the City of Oklahoma City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.