April Sales Tax Numbers Released, Declines May Be Moderating

The Texas State Comptroller’s office released sales tax revenue information and allocations for the month of April 2010 for cities across the state. These sales tax numbers reflect taxes collected in February 2010.

The sales tax revenue being paid to Bangs and Early in April is virtually unchanged as compared to the same month last year.  Brownwood and Blanket’s tax allocations for the month are down, but Brownwood’s decline seems to be leveling off a bit since the beginning of the year (see chart below for numbers)

Cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts statewide will receive $394.1 million in April sales tax allocations, a 3.9 percent decrease compared to April 2009. So far in 2010, monthly sales tax allocations to local governments lag 7.4 percent behind 2009 according to Texas Comptroller Susan Combs.

“For the second month in a row, the decline in sales tax collections continued to moderate,” Combs said. “Following an eight-month stretch of double-digit declines, the pace of revenue losses is slowing. The oil and gas, construction, manufacturing, and retail industries registered lower sales tax revenue collections than one year earlier. We expect further declines in the near term followed by a return to sales tax revenue growth later this year.”