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News Release

PRESTON L. DOERFLINGER
Director and Secretary
of Finance and Revenue

MARY FALLIN
Governor

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012
For Immediate Release

Media Contact:
RON JENKINS
Public Information Officer
Oklahoma Office of State Finance
(405) 521-3267

General Revenue Collections Strong in October;
Receipts Top Estimate by Nearly 10 Percent

OKLAHOMA CITY – General Revenue Fund collections climbed sharply in October, providing more evidence the Oklahoma economy is still on the upswing amid economic worry on the national scene, Secretary of Finance Preston Doerflinger said Tuesday.

"We had a healthy growth rate the previous month, but we more than doubled that rate in October, and we also beat the official estimate by nearly 10 percent," Doerflinger said as he released the monthly General Revenue Fund report, generated by the Office of Management and Enterprise Services.

Total collections to the GRF in October were $439 million, an increase from a year ago of $30.9 million or 7.6 percent. Receipts for the month exceeded the estimate by $38.9 million or 9.7 percent.

"Our economy is still on a roll, but I’m concerned about national events," Doerflinger said. "The stock market reacted negatively last week after the election as the so-called fiscal cliff moved to the forefront of the national debate amid pessimism over whether the president and Congress can reach a suitable budget consensus in the weeks ahead.

"Failure of Washington to act would adversely affect Oklahoma if the nation slips into another recession," he added. "We have prepared for that possibility and will continue enacting pro-growth policies designed to diversify our economy and keep it moving forward. Our best defense is to keep playing good offense."

State agencies have been asked to notify the OMES during the budget request process of any known impact from the sequestration provision of the federal Budget Control Act. That will give budget analysts information on which programs will be subject to automatic federal budget cuts if the fiscal cliff becomes a reality.

All major tax categories of the General Revenue Fund showed increases in October from the same month in 2011, except for gross production taxes on natural gas. That includes the category of "other revenue," even though reporting to that source was reduced because of the first payment of Oklahoma's Promise (OHLAP) funds in the amount of $13.25 million.

Doerflinger said: "We've had two strong revenue months after a decline in collections in August due to lower gross production taxes and a drop in income tax receipts, which can vary greatly from month to month.

"Our October GRF report was especially impressive and one more indicator that our economy is still expanding. We're still adding jobs, including those in manufacturing. Our unemployment rate of 5.2 percent is the fourth lowest in the country and compares to a national jobless rate of 7.9 percent.

"Since January of 2011, when Gov. Mary Fallin took office, we've added 57,600 jobs, and over 13,000 of those jobs have been in manufacturing. We rank first in the nation in the rate of manufacturing job growth over that period.

"The governor has worked tirelessly and successfully to recruit jobs over the past two years by enacting pro-growth legislation that has sped our recovery from the 2008 recession."

Governor Mary Fallin said, "The growth in October revenue shows that Oklahoma's economy remains among the nation's strongest. The potential remains, however, for economic turmoil at the national level if the president and Congress cannot reach a compromise to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.

"While we remain hopeful a compromise will be reached to avoid disrupting the national economy, we will continue to look for further cost-saving budget reforms and consolidations as well as continue to pursue pro-growth policies that will keep Oklahoma's economy strong and vibrant."

Total General Revenue Fund collections for the first four months of the new fiscal year are $1.8 billion, up $24.5 million or 1.4 percent from the same period of FY-2012. Collections exceeded the estimate by $61.2 million or 3.6 percent.

Made up of almost 70 sources, the General Revenue Fund is where all state taxes and fees flow, except for those dedicated or earmarked to certain areas of government. The broad-based GRF provides the starting point for building the state budget each year.

Major tax categories in October contributed the following amounts to the General Revenue Fund:

Income taxes –- The total collected from individual and corporate income taxes in the month of October was $204 million for the FY-2013 General Revenue Fund, which was $37.3 million or 22.4 percent more than prior year collections and $54.7 million or 36.6 percent above the estimate.

Individual income tax receipts of $186 million were $31.7 million or 20.6 percent above the prior year and $46.7 million or 33.6 percent above the estimate.

Corporate tax collections were up for the month, contributing $18 million to the General Revenue Fund, which was $5.5 million or 44.5 percent above October 2011 collections and $8 million or 78.7 percent higher than the estimate.

Sales tax -- Sales tax collections in October produced $153.5 million for the General Revenue Fund, which was $6.5 million or 4.4 percent more than the prior year and was flat to the estimate.

Gross production tax –- Gross production tax collections from natural gas brought in $4.9 million. Natural gas gross production tax collections were $27.1 million and 84.8 percent below prior year collections and $12.3 million or 71.7 percent lower than the estimate. Oil collections made no contribution to the General Revenue Fund because the first $150 million in oil receipts are earmarked to education.

Motor vehicle taxes -- This tax source produced $18.7 million from October collections, which was $1.6 million or 9.4 percent above the prior year and $1.9 million or 11.3 percent above the estimate.

Other Revenue -- Other revenue produced $57.9 million for the General Revenue Fund in October. This amount was $12.6 million or 27.8 percent above the prior year and $5.3 million or 8.3 percent below the estimate.

This month the state incurred the first payment of Oklahoma’s Promise (OHLAP) funds in the amount of $13.25 million. Considering this additional expenditure, which reduced reporting to "other revenue," all sources contributing to the General Revenue Fund remained strong as expected, except for gross production natural gas taxes.

Income Tax Comparisons with Prior Year (Month)
	FY-2012 Actual	FY-2013 Actual	SUMMARY October 2012 Variance from Prior Year
	MONTHLY COMPARISON		SUMMARY October 2012 Variance from Prior Year
	October 2011	October 2012	$	%
*Taxes*
Income - Individual	$154,225,455.797	$185,970,733.95	$31,745,278.16	20.6%
Income - Corporate	$12,454,682.76	$18,002,284.36	$5,547,601.60	44.5%

Total	$166,680,138.55	$203,973,018.31	$37,292,879.76	22.4%