State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $2.4 Billion in February

 Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.4 billion in February, 4.4 percent more than in February 2016. 

“Growth in sales tax revenue was due to increased collections from most sectors of the economy,” Hegar said. “While tax collections from oil- and gas-mining remain subdued, receipts from telecommunications, construction, services and retail and wholesale trade increased significantly.” 

Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in February 2017 was up by 2.8 percent compared with the same period a year ago. Sales tax revenue is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 58 percent of all tax collections in fiscal 2016. Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes, motor fuel taxes and oil and natural gas production taxes are also large revenue sources for the state.

In February 2017, Texas collected the following revenue from those taxes:

• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $373.2 million, up 0.3 percent from February 2016;
• motor fuel taxes — $289.7 million, up 1.1 percent from February 2016; and
• oil and natural gas production taxes — $277.7 million, up 150 percent from February 2016. The increase is, in part, due to refunds that went to natural gas severance taxpayers in February 2016, which resulted in artificially low tax collections during that period.

For details on all monthly collections, visit the Comptroller’s Monthly State Revenue Watch. For an audio clip of Hegar’s statement on this month’s sales tax revenue, go to the Comptroller’s website.