Declining sales tax collections continue

(AUSTIN)— Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said today the state collected $1.47 billion in sales tax in September, down 12.5 percent compared to a year ago.

“Declining sales tax collections, which began in February, have continued with September’s collections,” Combs said. “Weakness is still evident in all major sectors of the state economy, including oil and natural gas, retail trade, and construction. Decreases in monthly collections are expected to continue through the end of 2009.”

Combs sent local governments $418.5 million in monthly sales tax allocations, a 7.6 percent decrease compared to a year ago. So far this calendar year, local sales tax allocations are down 3.7 percent..

Combs distributed monthly sales tax allocations of $282.8 million to Texas cities, down 7.3 percent compared to last October. Texas counties received sales tax allocations of $25.5 million, down 10.7 percent compared to a year ago.

The 153 special purpose taxing districts got $16.7 million in sales tax revenue, a decrease of 1.4 percent. The state and local sales tax figures represent sales that occurred in August.