The Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) has assessed nearly $40 million on out-of-state delinquent tax debtors since November 2017, state Rep. Kyle Hilbert said.

Rep. Hilbert and state Sen. James Leewright authored House Bill 1427 in 2017, which created the OTC’s Out-of-State Compliance Division for the purpose of collecting unpaid taxes owed to Oklahoma by remote sellers or out-of-state individuals, firms and corporations.

“For a small investment in staff and resources, we have located, assessed and collected millions of dollars in taxes that are owed to our state,” said Hilbert, R-Bristow. “And I believe there are millions more out there that can be located and collected on an annual basis. These are the types of simple reforms that make our government more efficient and ensure that we are properly collecting and using the resources we are already owed before we raise more revenue from our citizens.”

The Out-of-State Compliance Division located and assessed $15.2 million in unpaid sales, use and withholding taxes in fiscal year 2018 and $24.5 million in unpaid taxes in fiscal year 2019. The OTC has collected $9.9 million of the FY 2019 assessments to date. Collections data for fiscal year 2018 is currently unavailable.