February GRF receipts miss estimate by 18%

OKLAHOMA CITY – February General Revenue Fund (GRF) collections missed the estimate by 18 percent, the farthest margin below the estimate so far this fiscal year.

As state government’s main operating fund, the GRF is the key indicator of state government’s fiscal status and the predominant funding source for the annual appropriated state budget. GRF collections are revenues that remain for the appropriated state budget after rebates, refunds and mandatory apportionments. Gross collections, reported by the State Treasurer, are all revenues collected by the state before rebates, refunds and mandatory apportionments.

February GRF collections of $225.6 million were $49.4 million, or 18 percent, below the official estimate upon which the Fiscal Year 2016 appropriated state budget was based, and $75.9 million, or 25.2 percent, below prior year collections.

Total GRF collections for the first eight months of FY 2016 were $3.3 billion, which is $327 million, or 8.9 percent, below the official estimate and $356.5 million, or 9.7 percent, below prior year collections.

“March’s deepened midyear revenue failure reduction was necessary because the rest of the year is projected to look a lot like February,” Doerflinger said. “It bears repeating that the most responsible way out of this is by adding stable, recurring revenues into the next budget as the governor proposed and is actively discussing with Legislature.”

Doerflinger is director of OMES, which issues the monthly GRF reports.

Major tax categories in February contributed the following amounts to the GRF:

• Total income tax collections of $29.5 million were $18.5 million, or 166.6 percent, above the estimate and $28.6 million, or 49.2 percent, below the prior year. Collections were far above the estimate and far below the prior year due to collection anomalies in February 2015 that skewed comparisons to February 2016, according to the Tax Commission.

  Individual income tax collections of $26.6 million were $16 million, or 151.9 percent, above the estimate and $30.7 million, or 53.6 percent, below the prior year.

  Corporate income tax collections of $2.9 million were $2.4 million, or 463.2 percent, above the estimate and $2.1 million, or 255.5 percent, above the prior year.

• Sales tax collections of $140.7 million were $26.3 million, or 15.7 percent, below the estimate and $18.3 million, or 11.5 percent, below the prior year.
• Gross production tax collections of $5 million were $25.1 million, or 83.4 percent, below the estimate and $25.3 million, or 83.5 percent, below the prior year.

  Natural gas collections of $4.5 million were $10.4 million, or 69.6 percent, below the estimate and $3.7 million, or 44.8 percent, below the prior year.

  Oil collections of $470,871 were $14.7 million, or 96.9 percent, below the estimate and $21.7 million, or 97.9 percent, below the prior year.

• Motor vehicle tax collections of $16.6 million were $1.3 million, or 7.3 percent, below the estimate and $1.8 million, or 11.9 percent, above the prior year.
• Other revenue collections of $33.8 million were $15.2 million, or 31 percent, below the estimate and $5.4 million, or 13.8 percent, below the prior year.