December sales tax: Down for city, up for county

December sales tax: Down for city, up for county

By Ken Childers

ONL Editor

The Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) made its monthly sales tax distribution to city, town and county coffers last week, and while the City of Okemah saw a slight decrease from the amount received one year ago, Okfuskee County’s share was up by more than two percent.

According to the OTC, the city received $100,256.81, a decrease of 1.4 percent from February 2019, when the amount was $101,694.41. The county’s disbursement of $135,695.76 was up 2.3 percent from the $132,540.95 that was received one year ago.

The story was just the opposite last month, as the city realized a nearly 10 percent increase and the county’s allocation was down by 10 percent from January 2019.

The city and county also received use tax disbursements last week, and both amounts were up significantly over the previous year. Okemah received $18,430.44 and the county’s distribution totaled $28,162.20, representing increases of 36 percent and 42 percent, respectively. Last February, the city received $11,716.46 and the amount received by the county was $16,207.69. Use tax is collected when goods are purchased outside of Oklahoma, online or otherwise, then used inside the state.

Use tax distributions were also made in February to the towns of Boley and Weleetka. Boley saw an increase of 31 percent with a disbursement of $1,752.57 and Weleetka took in $4,393.79, a nearly nine percent increase over February 2019.

Sales tax collections around the county

Boley saw an 33 percent increase over February 2019 with a disbursement of $10,121.09; Castle’s amount of $1,203.64 was down 13 percent from the previous year; Clearview received $183.54; Paden realized a 13 percent increase with a disbursement of $12,024.61 and Weleetka received $22,223.27, up 24 percent over this time last year.

Collections for other nearby cities and towns

Bristow: $291,169.55 (+7 percent)

Henryetta: $221,314.19 (-3 percent)

Okmulgee: $514,022.64 (-8 percent)

Prague: $93,447.46 (-2.5 percent)

Wetumka: $40,702.12 (-7 percent)

The February distribution of sales tax collections by the OTC primarily represents local tax receipts from December business. Companies that remit more than $2,500 monthly in sales tax receipts are required to file and pay electronically. The monies they reported this period represent sales from Dec. 16 – 31 and estimated sales from Jan. 1 – 15.