OKC's Latest Sales Tax Revenue Is A Positive Sign Of Things To Come, Local Business Leader Says

The Oklahoma City economy is bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic with record breaking sales tax revenue.

On Monday, Mayor David Holt posted to social media and said,

“The City of OKC received our monthly sales tax check. It was up 38 percent from the same month the year before, and even more incredibly, it was the largest single sales tax check in history.”

The check came in at $47.1 million, which surpassed the previous record of $41.6 million set in September 2019.

“I think this is just the beginning,” said Roy Williams, president and CEO of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce.

Williams said he wasn’t totally surprised to see such an increase compared to last year, but he said the record breaking amount is significant.

“We’re anticipating that this is going to continue, that it’s not just one month, but that it is significant and reflective of what’s going on in our economy,” he said. 

Some indicators were present even prior to the pandemic, he said. In 2019, the fastest growing industry was hospitality.

“Obviously that fell off,” Williams said, pointing to the pandemic. “Now, that industry is in a position of not only recovering, but taking off even further.

The most recent sales tax number, Williams thinks, rose due to several factors. Some of those factors include businesses increasing capacity and people finally feeling comfortable going out to spend money saved during the pandemic.

Williams also pointed to another factor.

“A significant influx of people,” he said. “There’s not just people spending more money, but there’s also more people.” 

Williams said Oklahoma’s ability to open ahead of other states also brought in new business. 

He is optimistic that the city will continue to see similar numbers.

“We’re seeing a lot of new businesses opening. We’re seeing new retailers come into the market. We’re seeing strong announcements by companies new to the market,” he said. “We’re not seeing businesses close down. We’re seeing businesses opening up."