(AUSTIN) — Thursday, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar released totals for fiscal 2021 state revenues, in addition to announcing the monthly state and county revenues for August.
The five Lamb County cities received a combined total of $194,003.75 for sales tax revenue for August. City by city, their returns were:
The City of Amherst received $2,572.97, which is a 3.75% increase over last year’s $2,479.77 return. So far this year, Amherst has received $17,856.94, a 3.45% increase over the $17,259.97 it received by this time last year.
The City of Earth received a return in the amount of $8,203.80, which is down -3.45% from last year’s $8,497. Earth has received a total of $63,721.44 for the year, so far, which is compared with last year’s total of $56,457.53, a 12.86% increase.
The City of Littlefield received a return of $144,528.91 for this period, which is an 8.01% increase over last year’s return of $133,810.56. Littlefield’s total far the year so far, is $928,274.86, a 3.12% increase over last year’s total of $900,101.73.
The City of Olton’s return for this period was $23,772.14, a 3.00% increase over the $23,079.05 it got back for this period last year. Olton has received a total of $164,649.35 for the year, which is a 16.25% increase over last year’s total of $141,628.89.
The City of Sudan received $14,925.93 for this period, which is a 15.55% increase over the $12,916.84 it received at this time last year. Sudan’s yearly total is $97,973.71, which is a 9.77% increase over the $89,253.35 it had received last year.
Over in Hockley County, the City of Anton received $6,500.56, a huge 98.44% increase over last year’s return of $3,275.73. This year, Anton has received a total of $33,954.47, which is a 49.12% increase over the $22.769.04 it had by this time lase year.
Comptroller Glenn Hegar revealed that the General Revenuerelated revenue for fiscal 2021 totaled $60.5 billion, which is up 6.2 % from fiscal 2020. He reviewed the different fund revenues.
• All Funds tax collections were $61.47 billion, up 7.1 % from fiscal 2020.
• Sales tax revenue was $36 billion, up 5.6 % from fiscal 2020.
• Motor vehicle sales and rental tax revenue was $5.73 billion, up 19.0 % from fiscal 2020.
• Franchise tax revenue was $4.53 billion, up 2.5 % from fiscal 2020.
• Oil production tax revenue was $3.45 billion, up 6.8 % from fiscal 2020.
• Natural gas production tax revenue was $1.57 billion, up 69.5 % from fiscal 2020.
• All Funds revenue was $170.5 billion, up 20.4 % from fiscal 2020, an increase attributable to federal funding for pandemic-related assistance.
Hegar said: “Yearly revenues were ahead of our projections in the revised Biennial Revenue Estimate (BRE) released in August.” He continued: “Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes and the natural gas production tax were particularly strong in the final month of fiscal 2021.”
The Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF) and State Highway Fund (SHF) both receive funding from oil and natural gas severance taxes. In November, the Comptroller’s office will deposit $1.46 billion in each of those funds, up from the $1.13 billion deposited in each fund in November 2020.
Hegar also said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.33 billion in August, 18.3 % more than in August 2020. Year-over-year increases for most tax revenues continue to be affected by base effects: year-ago revenue collections to which this year’s collections are compared were suppressed by the pandemic.
The majority of August sales tax revenue is based on sales made in July and remitted to the agency in August.
“August state sales tax collections continued to surpass yearago and pre-pandemic levels, with the rate of growth in receipts from non-retail sectors again outpacing that from retail trade,” Hegar said. “Receipts from oil and gas mining exhibited the largest percentage increase among major economic sectors for the second straight month, but remittances from that sector remained well below pre-pandemic levels. Construction and manufacturing returns both exhibited strong growth in August.
“The largest growth in retail receipts from year-ago levels was from clothing and clothing accessories stores. Bars and restaurants also showed robust growth compared to August of last year. Both sectors were substantially negatively impacted by the pandemic. Sectors that had increased sales following the onset of the pandemic – food and beverage stores, furniture and home furnishings stores, and sporting goods and hobby stores – had no growth in July compared to a year ago but did return to positive territory in August. Collections from other retail sectors that grew strongly last year – big box and online general merchandisers and building materials stores – continued to grow, but at a moderate pace.”
Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in August 2021 was up 16.5 % compared to the same period a year ago. Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 59 % of all tax collections.
Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes in August:
• Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $625 million, up 33 % from August 2020 (before May of this year, that source of revenue had never topped $500 million);
• Motor fuel taxes — $331 million, up 15 % from August 2020;
• Oil production tax — $405 million, up 85 % from August 2020;
• Natural gas production tax — $215 million, compared to negative $15 million in August 2020, attributable to substantial refund payments in August a year ago;
• Hotel occupancy tax — $65 million, up 112 % from August 2020; and
• Alcoholic beverage taxes — $135 million, up 96 % from August 2020.
For details on all monthly collections, visit the Comptroller’s Monthly State Revenue Watch. For an extensive history of tax policy developments and fees since 1972, visit our updated Sources of Revenue publication.