Sales tax revenue up for most cities, OTC reports

ELGIN — Most municipalities in Comanche County received higher sales tax distributions in January than for the same period a year ago, according to figures released by the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

The January distributions are based on November sales, which was the beginning of the holiday season.

Elgin was up $10,000 for January 2023 compared to January 2022 when the city received $152,968. Fletcher received $38,631 this month, which was up from the $32,287 from January of last year. Sterling’s distribution was up about $2,000; Cyril increased by about $1,000; and Lawton’s distribution increased by about $15,000. Medicine Park was the only area city that experienced a decline in the January distribution, dropping about $3,000.

Elgin and Fletcher also had increases in their use tax distribution while Sterling, Medicine Park, Lawton and Cyril showed declines.

Elgin received $50,822 in its use tax distribution for January compared to $48,864 a year ago. Meanwhile, Fletcher’s use tax distribution was up more than $2,000.

The disbursement of $199,129,968 in sales tax collections returned to the cities and towns reflected an increase of $6,000,730 from the $193,129,239 distributed to the cities and towns in January last year. The use tax disbursement to cities and towns was $38,095,644.

In county returns, the counties shared in a $33,927,219 sales tax disbursement and a $7,219,253 use tax disbursement.

Use taxes are paid on items purchased online, shipped into Oklahoma and the consumer was not charged a tax on the transaction by the company. Individuals in Oklahoma are responsible for paying use taxes on their out-of-state purchases. Use tax is calculated at the same rate as sales tax, which varies by city and county.