Budget & Tax, Education

Oklahoma taxes and education spending

April 14, 2023

Curtis Shelton

Oklahoma’s state and local tax collections totaled $21.1 billion in 2022. This includes income taxes, state and local sales taxes, local property taxes, and more. With 4.02 million people in our state, per capita tax collections are $5,253. That’s $21,014 for a family of four.

A large portion of that $21.1 billion goes to public education. According to the State Department of Education’s annual revenue report, public education received $8.6 billion in 2022,* with a cash balance of $11.5 billion. Federal revenue accounted for $1.7 billion. That means public education receives more than one-third of every tax dollar collected by the state.

*This does not include the $464 million the state contributed for the teachers’ retirement system in 2021. The 2022 data have not yet been released.