Comptroller: City, state seeing 'moderate' growth in year to date sales tax rebate revenues

Jun. 8—The City of Greenville is receiving another landmark in the monthly collections of sales tax rebate revenue.

The city remains ahead in the amount of revenue collected for the fiscal year so far, as of May, but it was a more moderate increase, a trend seen across the state, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Texas Comptroller's Office.

Comptroller Glenn Hegar said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.84 billion in May, 4.1 percent more than in May 2022. The majority of May sales tax revenue is based on sales made in April and remitted to the agency in May.

"The rate of sales tax revenue growth continues to moderate, with the increase in May — compared with a year ago — representing the lowest annual rate of increase observed in the 26 months since the end of pandemic restrictions," Hegar said. "This slower growth is expected and in line with the economic outlook we detailed in our Biennial Revenue Estimate, as both the rate of inflation and growth in real economic activity slow as demand cools in the face of higher interest rate policy and reduced fiscal stimulus from the federal government."

Greenville was to receive a sales tax payment of a just over $1 million this month, representing a 10.93% increase from the $930,000 collected in June 2022, which represented an increase of 5.48% from almost $882,000 received in June 2021.

For the fiscal year so far, Greenville has taken in sales tax rebate revenue of a little more than $6 million, a 4.93% increase from the almost $5.77 million collected through May 2022, 17.66% higher than the $4.9 million received through June 2021.

Sales taxes are one of the two main sources of revenue, along with property taxes, which feed the city's general fund. A rededication of a percentage of the sales tax revenue goes toward the 4A economic development corporation.

"While receipts from the oil and gas mining sector continued their large year-over-year gains, with remittances once again nearly 50% higher than they were the same month last year, growth in receipts from other sectors driven by business spending stalled," Hegar said.

"Receipts from the construction, manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors barely exceeded year-ago levels."