City sales tax collections slump, county's rise from last year

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced July 8 he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $744.2 million in local sales tax allocations for July, 2.6% less than in July 2019. These allocations are based on sales made in May by businesses that report tax monthly.

Widespread social distancing requirements were relaxed across much of the state in May, thus year-over-year declines were not as steep as they were last month. Beaumont saw a greater decline percentage-wise, with a drop of around 6.5% from May’s sales tax collections, compared to May 2019. The city collected approximately $3.2 million this year, compared to around $3.4 million last year.

Jefferson County, however, saw a rise in sales tax collections for May, with a 3.2% increase. The county collected approximately $2.5 million last year, compared to just over $2.6 million this May.