Another good news-bad news scenario rolled out for Oklahoma this month.

The good news is, the April 2022 sales tax was up sharply compared to last year and five county towns and Kingfisher County were among those who reaped big gains, according to figures distributed by the Oklahoma Tax Commission.

The bad news is, rising inflation may shoulder a big part of the credit for the increase.

March gross receipts to the treasury point to accelerating economic expansion in Oklahoma, pushed along by wage growth and rising inflation, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel said.

March gross receipts of $1.38 billion are up by almost 23 percent compared to the same month of last year. That is a record high for March collections.

Twelve-month receipts of $15.87 billion, also a record high, are up by more than 20 percent compared to the prior period.

“The level of growth we’ve seen recently shows the state economy is hitting on all cylinders, even when accounting for inflationary pressure,” Treasurer McDaniel said.

“With unemployment at a record low, more Oklahomans are finding work, which is helping deliver exceptional economic results.”

The annual inflation rate hit 7.9 percent in February, up four-tenths of a percentage point from January.

It is the highest rate since January of 1982. Combined energy prices are up 25.6 percent, while the cost of food for home consumption rose at an annual rate of 8.6 percent.

The April distribution of sales tax collections by the Oklahoma Tax Commission primarily represents local tax receipts from February 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 Feb. 16 to Feb. 28 and estimated sales from March 1 to March 15.

Kingfisher, Cashion, Dover, Loyal and Okarche all had sales tax gains in April with the 1.25% county tax up 89%.

The disbursement of $179,075,848 in sales tax collections returned to the cities and towns reflected an increase of $34,720,041 from the $144,355,807 distributed to the cities and towns in April last year.

The use tax disbursement to cities and towns was $27,643,837.

In county returns, the counties shared in a $30,252,393 sales tax disbursement and a $5,337,282 use tax disbursement.

Use tax (tax collected at the same rate as sales taxes on out-of-state purchases for delivery within the county) were mostly all higher for April.

Comparisons of use tax amounts for area towns and Kingfisher County collected for April 2021 and April 2022 follow with the current year’s amount listed first:

Cashion –$12,131.79 and $9,577.63.

Dover – $5,084.29 and $3,016.80.

Hennessey – $18,468.32 and $17,487.48.

Okarche – $16,488.43 and $11,196.16.

Kingfisher – $111,066.57 and $68,685.61.

Crescent – $7,608.31 and $9,612.13.

Watonga – $15,220.53 and $11,089.27.

Kingfisher County – $134,202.56 and $66,021.73.