Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released the state sales tax revenue for February 2024 and it totaled $3.69 billion, which is .05% percent more than in February 2023. The majority of February sales tax revenue is based on sales made in January and remitted to the agency in February.
Locally, the City of Brownfield brought in $164,946.92 which is up 1.13% from $163,101.43. For the year-to-date revenue, Brownfield is up 4.10% at $295,674.89 from $284,016.20. Unlike the City of Brownfield, Terry County is down in sales tax revenue bringing in $77,947.18 which is down -6.25% from $83,391.08 from this time last year. Terry County’s year-to-date revenue is also down -5.17% from $147,546.34 to $139,908.85.
The City of Meadow gained in sales tax revenue from this time last year by 1.82% from $1,963.84 to $1,999.70. Meadow’s year-to-date also increased by 14.93% from $3,862.72 to $4,439.43. The City of Wellman had a huge increase of sales tax revenue from this time last year bringing in $1,708.36 from $793.35 which is 115.33%. Wellman’s year-to-date also had a large increase of 93.04% from $1,368.33 to $2,641.55.
“Overall monthly state sales tax collections slightly surpassed those of a year ago,” Hegar said. “The trends we have seen recently continued last month, with the sectors that have been slowing continuing to slide and others that have been growing showing persistent strength.
“Among sectors primarily driven by business spending, remittances from the construction sector continued to grow, while receipts from the manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors were both down from February last year. Receipts from the oil and gas mining sector were modestly up compared with a year ago.
“Remittances from the consumer-driven retail trade sector were once again slightly above year ago totals. In contrast to last month, collections from most major subsectors within the retail trade grew, the exceptions being remittances from building materials and furniture and home goods stores. Both of those subsectors declined by low double-digits compared with February 2023.
“Receipts from electronics and appliance stores saw a large increase compared with a year ago, driven by a better-than-expected post-holiday shopping season. Remittances from the electronic shopping subsector continued to climb strongly, as growth in online merchandising continued to outpace that of in-store sales.
“Receipts from restaurants grew in the mid-single digits and higher than the inflation rate for food away from home.”
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in February 2024 was up 0.4 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 — $586 million, up 8 percent from February 2023;
- motor fuel taxes — $302 million, down 1 percent from February 2023;
- oil production tax — $458 million, down 7 percent from February 2023;
- natural gas production tax — $186 million, down 39 percent from February 2023;
- hotel occupancy tax — $58 million, up 38 percent from February 2023; and
- alcoholic beverage taxes — $128 million, down 1 percent from February 2023.
