Tulsa Sales Tax Collection Increases For First Time In 14 Months

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- City of Tulsa sales tax collections have increased by 3.7 percent compared to last year, the first increase in 14 months.

Collections since the beginning of the year are still below last year's totals.

The report the City of Tulsa received from the Oklahoma Tax Commission indicated that sales tax collections from mid-March to mid-April totaled $16,682,891, a 3.7 percent increase over the $16,085,995 collected for the same period in 2009.

That amount is also 11.5 percent above revised budget estimate for the period. The estimate was $14,963,000.

"Since this is the first time in 14 months that we have seen an increase in sales tax collections over last year, we are proceeding cautiously," said Mayor Dewey Bartlett.

"We need to see several months of consistent improvements in sales tax collections before we can truly say that we have turned the corner."

For the fiscal year to date, the City of Tulsa has collected $178,962,280. For the same period last year collections totaled $197,615,811. For the fiscal year, collections are down by 9.4 percent, or $18.65 million.

Use tax collections for the one-month period totaled $1,357,216, down 2.3 percent from the $1,388,745 collected mid-March through mid-April last year. For the year to date, use tax collections are down by 13 percent, or $2,172,840, compared to the previous year.

Use taxes are collected from businesses on purchases of equipment from out-of-state vendors.

"We hope the trend continues, we must remain cautious and manage the city's resources wisely," Mayor Dewey Bartlett said.

4/8/2010 Related story: City Of Tulsa Sales Tax Revenues Down For 13th Month