OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the state can require cities to use the Oklahoma Tax Commission to collect city sales taxes.
The decision overturns a lower court ruling in a lawsuit filed by the city of Tulsa.
Tulsa spokeswoman Michelle Allen said attorneys for the city planned to meet later with Mayor Dewey Bartlett to discuss the ruling.
"The legal department is reviewing it and we don't have a comment this time," Allen said.
The state attorney general's office did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment.
The state Legislature, on the final day of its 2010 session, approved the bill that was later signed into law that required the Tax Commission to collect municipal sales taxes in what was called an effort to streamline tax collections statewide.
On June 1, 2010, one month before the law went into effect, Tulsa contracted with Alabama-based Revenue Discovery Systems to collect its taxes. Officials estimated the city would save about $700,000 from the $2 million a year it paid the Tax Commission in collection fees.
The city's lawsuit, filed in August 2010, claimed the law unconstitutionally impaired the city's contract and infringes on the city's powers granted under the state constitution and the city charter.
An Oklahoma County District Court judge ruled in favor of the city in May 2011 and the state appealed.
The state Supreme Court's unanimous ruling said the Legislature has the authority to develop a uniform tax collection system and that the Legislature's authority supersedes the city charter.
