By: Eric Horton
Texas Comptroller Glen Hegar relesed the August state sales tax revenue which totaled $4 billion, a 0.4 percent more than in August 2023. The majority of August sales tax revenue is based on sales made in July and remitted to the agency in August.
For the City of Brownfield, its sales tax revenue for the month was $173,286.76 and is up from $170,682.88 this time last year. That is a 1.52% increase. The year-to-date revenue is up 11.97% from $1,101,898.16 to $1,233,899.16. Although there is an increase in the monthly sales tax revenue, the year prior, the City of Brownfield was up 24.50% bringing in $132,728.59 from $106,603.52 in Aug. 2022. Brownfield did not see this increase. Most likely the lack of increase is due to the wildfires and flooding that took place in Ruidoso NM earlier in summer break. Many people travel through Brownfield heading to Ruidoso.
The City of Meadow dropped tremendously by 97.17% going from $76,060.58 in Aug. 2023 to $2,151.60. The year-to-date revenue also fell by 80.87% from $88,752.67 to $16,973.02. Unlike Meadow, the City of Wellman was up in revenue. It had a 149.05% increase bringing in $1,779.82 from $714.64. Wellman’s year-to-date is up by 209.77% from $5,274.20 to $16,338.36. Terry County also had a decrease in sales tax revenue. Its decrease was over 30% going from $108,308.44 to $74,786.94. The County’s year-to-date has also decreased by 0.75% from $540,135.70 to $536,081.21.
Hegar said, “August sales tax collections grew modestly from a year ago, and at less than the rate of general price inflation. Growth was muted from both consumer and business spending-driven sectors, as consumer spending continued to subside from the post-pandemic inflationary surge and employment growth stalled in July.”
According to Hegar, sales tax receipts among sectors reliant on business spending were mixed, with gains observed from construction and wholesale trade and declines from mining and manufacturing. Consumers continued to boost receipts for the services sector significantly, but receipts from retail trade grew barely more than 1 percent over the previous year. Also receipts from restaurants declined slightly from a year ago, and is the first decline for the sector since the pandemic. Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in August 2024 was up 0.3 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 in August:
- motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $649 million, down 2 percent from August 2023;
- motor fuel taxes — $330 million, up 0.2 percent from August 2023;
- oil production tax — $543 million, up 8 percent from August 2023;
- natural gas production tax — $80 million, down 42 percent from August 2023;
- hotel occupancy tax — $69 million, down 2 percent from August 2023; and
- alcoholic beverage taxes — $139 million, down 6 percent from August 2023.
Hegar also announced the fiscal year (Sept. 1, 2023 – Aug. 31, 2024) revenue for Texas. The total revenue for fiscal 2024 finished largely in line with expectations, which is one-half of 1 percent below the Comptroller’s Certification Revenue Estimate issued last October. Hegar said. “Tax revenue was down 0.3 percent from fiscal 2023 and below estimate by 1.3 percent, while non-tax revenue fell by 6.1 percent from last year, exceeding estimate by 0.2 percent.”
In keeping with what Hegar said, the tax revenue results reflect the decline in general price inflation and a slowing in the rate of growth in economic activity, as well as lower natural gas prices. For non-tax revenue, lower-than-expected receipts from the federal government were offset by higher-than-expected interest income.
Also to note, the Economic Stabilization Fund and State Highway Fund both receive funding from oil and natural gas severance taxes. In November, the Comptroller’s office will deposit $2.74 billion in each of those funds in fiscal 2025, down from the $3.06 billion deposited in each fund in fiscal 2024.
Importants notes from the 2023-2024 Fiscal year:
- General Revenue-related revenue for fiscal 2024 totaled $83.78 billion, up 1.1 percent from fiscal 2023.
- All Funds revenue was $181.12 billion, down 3.6 percent from fiscal 2023.
- All Funds tax collections were $81.87 billion, down 0.3 percent from fiscal 2023.
- Sales tax revenue was $47.16 billion, up 1.2 percent from fiscal 2023.
- Motor vehicle sales and rental tax revenue was $6.84 billion, up 0.2 percent from fiscal 2023.
- Franchise tax revenue was $6.86 billion, up 0.6 percent from fiscal 2023.
- Oil production tax revenue was $6.3 billion, up 6.3 percent from fiscal 2023.
- Natural gas production tax revenue was $2.13 billion, down 36.3 percent from fiscal 2023.
