Monthly revenue report, 04/2012

              OKLAHOMA STATE TREASURER
KEN MILLER
For Immediate Release: May 2, 2012
Revenue Collections Resume Rise In Spite of Gross
Production Decline
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma’s total revenue collections resumed their upward
trajectory in April after slipping slightly in March, while gross production taxes continued to
shrink, State Treasurer Ken Miller said today as he released the monthly gross receipts report.
“Oklahoma’s economy is reflecting health and resilience in spite of the low price
environment for natural gas,” Miller said.
Total collections for the month were $1.16 billion, up by almost $83 million or 7.7
percent from April of last year. Miller said all major sources of revenue saw growth over the
prior year except for gross production, which fell by more than 20 percent.
Income tax collections jumped by more than 10 percent from the prior year and
accounted for almost 50-cents of every dollar collected in April, the tax-filing deadline month.
Sales tax collections, up by 7.1 percent, moderated slightly in April following months of double-digit
growth.
Gradual erosion
In April, collections from gross production taxes on oil and natural gas were less than the
same month of the prior year for a fifth consecutive month, and for the sixth time in seven
months.
During those months, the percentage of gross production taxes generated by natural gas
production has steadily decreased as prices have fallen. In October, 51 percent of gross
production collections came from gas extraction. By March, the amount had fallen to 34 percent.
The proportion of the tax produced by natural gas for April is not yet available.
Gross production collections in April reflect prices and production from February, when
the spot price for natural gas at the Henry Hub in Louisiana, considered a benchmark for gas
prices, averaged $2.51 per thousand cubic feet. Since then, prices have dropped even further,
averaging less than $2 per thousand cubic feet in April.
(more)