By Conrad Dudderar
Senior Staff Writer
City of Yukon sales tax collections reported this month that primarily represent March business – when stores started closing due to a global pandemic – dropped 10.9% from the same period last year.
The City of Yukon has received a $1,765,912 distribution for May from the Oklahoma Tax Commission. That’s $216,614 lower than Yukon’s $1,982,526 distribution in May 2019.
The May distribution of sales tax collections by the state tax commission primarily represents local tax receipts from March business. Retail businesses in Yukon and across Oklahoma started closing in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Eleven percent is not good, but it’s better than what we were thinking,” Yukon Mayor Shelli Selby said. “It could have been worse.”
City officials had expected a 15-20% drop in sales tax receipts due to mandated business closures that started in mid-March.
Yukon city officials won’t know the full effect of the shutdown until the June sales tax report, which will primarily represent April business.
Retailers across Oklahoma recently started back in business as part of Gov. Stitt’s multi-phase reopening plan.
“I’m looking forward to the City of Yukon rebounding since we have started opening back up,” Selby said. “I encourage people to shop and eat local and help keep our sales tax (receipts) up.”
The City of Yukon has a .04 local tax rate.
DOWN 8.8%
STATEWIDE
Statewide, sales tax collections this month are down 8.8% from May 2019.
The disbursement of $146,166,497 in sales tax collections returned to Oklahoma’s cities and towns reflects a decrease of $14,180,567 from the $160,347,064 distributed to the cities and towns in May last year.
Canadian County had a 24.3% decline in its May sales tax distribution, dropping from $738,377 to $558,944 for the same period. Canadian County has a .0035 sales tax rate to fund juvenile center operations.
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 March 16-31 and estimated sales from April 1-15.
Meanwhile, the City of Yukon saw a significant increase (29.7%) in its use tax disbursement for May – up from $156,062 in May 2019 to $202,365 this month.
Use tax is a tax on goods purchased in another state for use in the taxing state, in lieu of local sales tax. Use tax applies to purchases made outside the taxing jurisdiction but used within the state.
