As the COVID-19 pandemic continued through May, Oklahoma’s gross receipts dropped 14% from the same month a year ago, a more than $150 million decline.
Deputy Treasurer for Communications Tim Allen said the only month with a steeper decrease from the prior year he can recall is April, when gross receipts were down 30% from 2019.
"But that was exaggerated in April because the individual income tax payment deadline was moved from April 15 to July 15," Allen said.
Gross production tax collections in May were down more than $55 million from May 2019, while sales tax collections were more than $50 million less.
Allen said there will probably be a few more bad months to ride out before collections improve.
"The average price of oil that’s reflected in these payments was a little under $30 a barrel. The collections that come in next month are going to reflect production during a time when the average price of oil for the month was about $15 a barrel," Allen said.
Overall state revenues for the past 12 months are off $477 million compared to the previous 12 months.