Drilling for oil and natural gas has surged, and the pile of cash owed to unknown mineral-rights owners is growing exponentially. The Corporation Commission and the State Treasurer are sitting on a combined $105 million in unclaimed royalty payments, Oklahoma Watch’s Chase Cook reports. The Commission’s account alone has ballooned from $5 million a decade [...]
Jordan Albert spent his break from the University of Tulsa in a windowless room on the second floor of the state Capitol. It’s a summer job, but it’s more suit-and-tie than swimsuit-and-suncreen. Albert is triple-majoring in finance, accounting and economics, but he says spending his summer in state government might have changed his career path. [...]
Historically low natural gas prices have dragged down revenues from gross production taxes, alarming state budget officials. But prices weren’t low enough long enough to trigger a 3 percent reduction in the tax rate. Oklahoma-produced gas sold for an average of $2.92 per thousand cubic feet in March and April. State Treasurer Ken Miller says [...]
Fiscal year 2012 has ended, and Oklahoma finished “well into the black,” State Treasurer Ken Miller said in a statement with his monthly revenue report. Revenue wise, things look good. Total revenue collections are up more than 7 percent from FY 2011, which means the state collected about $782 million more than it did last [...]
State tax collections are up, thanks to increased income and sales tax revenues. But finance officials are watching for “spillover” effects from steadily declining oil and natural gas revenues, State Treasurer Ken Miller said Tuesday. May marked the six month in a row that gross production taxes from oil and natural gas were less than the [...]
When lawmakers meet to start the legislative session Feb. 6, they will be facing a revenue gap. State Sen. Clark Jolley, chairman of the senate appropriations committee, reiterated that point to the Edmond Sun, tempering somewhat the state treasurer’s optimistic tone. “Despite what my good friend Ken Miller has been saying in the media, Oklahoma’s [...]
Tomkellyphoto / Flickr Oklahoma’s gross tax receipts for December were more than 11 percent higher than the same month last year, state Treasurer Ken Miller said Wednesday, releasing monthly collection figures. Sales taxes alone were 6.3 percent higher during the 2011 holiday shopping season than they were last year, he said. Overall, revenues for 2011 [...]
With Republicans controlling Oklahoma’s state government, efforts to reduce or completely eliminate the personal income tax are “moving toward reality,” according to an Oklahoman report. From capitol reporter Michael McNutt: A gubernatorial task force is proposing a 10-year program to significantly reduce then ultimately eliminate the tax. A legislative task force also is looking at [...]
Gross revenue collections for November were 13.2 percent higher than last year and have grown for 21 months straight, State Treasurer Ken Miller said Thursday. Gross collections reflect all revenues collected by the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Some of the money is earmarked for specific funds, while some collections go to cities and counties. The remainder [...]
Whether the topic is tax reform, business regulation or jobs creation, Oklahoma lawmakers and budget stakeholders always seem to end up talking Texas. And that Texas economy is dominating the news, as Gov. Rick Perry continues his quest for the White House by arguing the Texas model of job creation can work nationwide. But the [...]
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