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Two northeast Oklahoma counties see collections from cigarette taxes decrease significantly in recent months. Communications Director for the Oklahoma Tax Commission Paula Ross says that the recent drops in cigarette tax collections may have to do more with the Oklahoma Tax Commission notifying whole-sellers in April that the tax for cigarettes would increase.

Washington County saw a little under $3,000 in cigarette tax collections for August. That’s a 53-percent drop in collections for August since the 2018 Fiscal Year that saw nearly 62-hundred dollars collected from the raised cigarette tax. The target percentage for August 2018 in Washington County was set at 16.67-percent, but the county falls .39-percent short of that goal right now.

Osage County brought $1,225 in this past July from the tax compared to the $3,444 collection from a year ago.

According to Ross, whole-sellers bought their full allotment allowed in April which brought the July numbers so low. In other words, when the Oklahoma Tax Commission notified whole-sellers about the upcoming increase in cigarette taxes, they increased their purchases with the allotment they were allowed. Ross says stamps bought by whole-sellers in April were the highest in both counties of any month in the last three years.