Oklahoma Tax Commission releases numbers

The August 2021 distribution of sales tax collections by the Oklahoma Tax Commission primarily represents local tax receipts from June 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 June 16 to 31 and estimated sales from July 1 to the 15.

The August breakdown is as follows:

The disbursement of $183,420,800 in sales tax collections returned to the cities and towns reflected an increase of $15,296,631 from the $168,124,169 distributed to the cities and towns in August last year.

The use tax disbursement to cities and towns was $30,430,832.

In county returns, the counties shared in a $29,985,550 sales tax disbursement and a $5,479,222 use tax disbursement.

The following are the sales tax figures for each community, 2021 is listed first and the same time period for 2020, followed by the totals for 2021:

• Aline, $3,885, $3,039, for an increase of $846, for a total of $57,632 in 2021.

• Burlington, $941, $819, for an increase of $122, for a total of $8,294 in 2021.

• Byron, $813, $494, for an increase of $319, for a total of $5,055 in 2021.

• Carmen, $3,118, $2,351, for an increase of $767, for a total of $24,856 in 2021.

• Cherokee, $57,362, $52,911, for an increase of $4,451, for a total of $414,714 for 2021.

• Goltry, $2,078, $2,952, for a decrease of $874, for a total of $50,276 in 2021.

• Helena, $12,711, $12,471, for an increase of $240, for a total of $100,891 in 2021.

• Jet, $3,369, $3,016, for an increase of $353, for a total of $24,673 in 2021.

Alfalfa County collections for 2020 were $76,285 and the figure has increased to $89,712 for an increase of $13,427 from the same time period last year. The county has collected $758,116 for all of 2021.

Use Tax

Use tax collections returned and last year’s figures follow:

• Aline, $3,540, $1,241, for an increase of $2,299.

• Carmen, $1,069, $1,034, for an increase of $35.

• Cherokee, $13,265, $10,766, for an increase of $2,499.

• Goltry, $960, $2,108, for a decrease of $1,148.

• Helena, $2,387, $1,959, for an increase of $428.

• Jet, $1,434, $751, for an increase of $683.

Alfalfa County as a whole saw an increase of $8,731 from $17,439 in 2020 to $26,170 in 2021.

A use tax is very similar to a sales tax; however, it targets purchases made outside of a given tax jurisdiction. Use taxes are levied on goods or services bought in one state or municipality, then transported into, consumed in, or resold in another municipality or state.

Use taxes aim to preserve sales tax revenues and protect local retailers from competition in jurisdictions with lower sales taxes or no sales taxes.

The sales tax and use tax numbers are released by the 15th of every month on the Oklahoma Tax Commission website at tax.ok.gov. The report can be found under the newsroom tab on the bottom of the page.

Past monthly reports are also available for viewing on that same page on the Oklahoma Tax Commission website.