News
Sales Tax Experiences Another Increase
ARCHIVED PRESS RELEASE: Published 1-10-2012
The City of Tulsa's sales tax revenues received in January are
higher than those received in January a year ago, but a portion of
the increase is because of additional contributions to Tulsa's Fix
Our Streets program.
When Tulsa County's .167% tax funding county improvements
expired in late 2011, that .167% rolled over to fund projects
in the City's 2008 Fix Our Streets program.
"In order to get a clear picture of our growth over the last
year, you have to compare apples to apples," said Tulsa Finance
Director Mike Kier "Although some indicators in the economy are
strengthening, especially related to job growth, we are remaining
cautious as we enter the budget period for Fiscal Year 2013 because
of pending economic news, including the American Airlines
reorganization," Kier said.
The January sales tax disbursement, for taxes on November retail
sales, was 11.3 percent higher than the same month last year, but
includes that additional tax rate. If the two periods are
compared using the same 3 percent tax rate, the increase is closer
to 5 percent.
Mayor Bartlett said the modest growth of 5 percent is
"good to see to keep capital projects on track and to improve the
health of the general fund and reserves, but our forecasts for the
next year will continue to be conservative based on unknown
economic factors."
The City received $20,011,737 from the Oklahoma Tax Commission
this month. That compares to 17,974, 061 in January of 2011. It
also exceeds the budget estimate of 19,186,000 for the month.
For the 12-month period, the City received $124,485,803 in sales
taxes, up 6.37 percent from the $117,035,928 received the previous
year. The year's total exceeded budget estimates by 2.1
percent.
Use taxes are up 16.6 percent for the month, compared to January
2011. The City received $2,008,927, compared to $1,722,664 in
January a year ago. That exceeded budget estimates by 25.7
percent. For the entire year, use taxes totaled $11,406,449,
compared to $10,173,103 the previous year, an increase of 12.1
percent.
