Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released the state sales tax revenue which totaled $4.06 billion in December, a 3.2 percent increase than in December 2022. The majority of December sales tax revenue is based on sales made in November and remitted to the agency in December.
City of Brownfield sales tax was up again, this time 3.35% or $124,967.46 from $120,911.69 this same time last year. Brownfield was also up year-to-date posting $1,696,548.29 or a 10.55% increase. Terry County also has done well with a 17.19% increase from this time last year from $50,486.49 to $59,169.63. For the year-to-date revenue, Terry County has brought in an extra $132,142.37 in sales tax revenue which is an 18.73% increase from $705,324.01 to $837,466.38.
The City of Meadow continues with an increase, this time a 2.19% which is $1,684.82 from $1,648.67. However, it’s the year-to-date revenue that is getting the attention. There was a 373.65% increase from $20,335.88 to $96,321.73. The City of Wellman had a pretty good month also with a sales tax revenue increase of 70.68% from $426.32 to $727.65. The year-to-date also was up, this time by 35.53% from $6,117.96 to $8,291.79
“Overall sales tax collections grew moderately compared with December 2022, with most of the increase among major sectors coming from the manufacturing and service sectors,” Hegar said. “Among the sectors driven primarily by business spending, both the construction and manufacturing sectors showed modest gains compared with a year ago. Receipts from the mining sector, which have been up sharply since the pandemic, were down slightly relative to December last year. Wholesale trade remittances were down once again.
“Remittances from the retail trade sector were up slightly, led again by strong growth in electronic shopping. Receipts from home improvement centers and furniture and home goods stores continued to slide in December, as decreased consumer spending on those goods persisted following the pandemic peak.
“Service sector receipts grew moderately last month as consumers continue to spend on live entertainment. Receipts from restaurants were up from a year ago but at less than the rate of inflation for food away from home.”
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in December 2023 was up 2.2 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 57 percent of all tax collections.
Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes:
- motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $522 million, down 8 percent from December 2022;
- motor fuel taxes — $317 million, up less than 1 percent from December 2022;
- oil production tax — $501 million, down 3 percent from December 2022;
- natural gas production tax — $171 million, down 54 percent from December 2022;
- hotel occupancy tax — $41 million, down 29 percent from December 2022; and
- alcoholic beverage taxes — $136 million, down less than 1 percent from December 2022.
