Fayetteville, Round Top See Biggest Sales Tax Increases

With one month yet to go, La Grange has already topped the $2.5 million mark for city sales tax revenue in 2025. It’s up 2.1% from the same time a year ago.

That’s an important mark for a town whose annual sales tax income is more than three times as great as its annual property tax.

All of the county’s towns except for Ellinger have seen sales tax gains compared to last year. By far the biggest increase has been in Round Top and Fayetteville, the heart of the widely known Antiques Fairs.

With the November payment from the State Comptroller’s Office, Round Top has collected $468,798 this year, up 16.0% from a year earlier. This puts it in third place among the county’s seven towns, slightly ahead of Flatonia, which has traditionally ranked third.

Flatonia has collected $452,831, up 6.1% from a year ago.

Round Top has made large gains every year since a drop in 2020, when Covid shut many businesses. At this point five years ago, Round Top had collected $191,948. Now sales tax is nearly two and a half times that amount.

Fayetteville, however, has grown even more this year. Through November, its $147,361 is up 20.7% from a year earlier.

Schulenburg, at $1.2 million, is up 3.7% from last year and Carmine is up 1.6%. Ellinger, the county’s newest and smallest incorporated town, is down 3.9% from last year.

Throughout the region, most towns have had gains in the single digits, though a few, like Fayetteville and Round Top, have had double-digit gains in 2025. Hallettsville is up 18%, Sealy and Yoakum are both up about 12% and Luling and Bellville are each up about 10%.

Besides cities, nine counties in the region levy the optional local sales tax.

Fayette County has taken in just over $3 million this year, a gain of 2.5% from last year.

Austin County has had the greatest gain, 33.2% compared to last year, while Lee County has had the greatest loss, down 7.1% from a year ago.

Receipts in November are generally for sales made in September and reported to the state in October. The state then rebates the local shares in November. The December checks, representing sales made in October, will close out the calendar year for the sales tax reports.