Growth in Sales Tax Strong Across Region

While the Federal Reserve is worrying about inflation, local governments in South Central Texas are rejoicing over increased sales tax revenue from all that spending.

As of April, all nine area counties tracked by the Record have double-digit sales tax gains, compared to this time last year. And Fayette County lacked being at the top of the list by just one-tenth of one percent.

So far this year, Fayette County has received $904,109 in sales tax rebates from State Comptroller Glenn Hegar. That’s up 32.4% from last year – which amounts to more than $140,000 extra for the county treasury.

Burleson County, which includes Caldwell and is near College Station, is up by 32.5%.

Each of these nine counties levies a tax of one-half of one percent on applicable retail sales. Most cities, by comparison, levy a 1.5% tax.

Every town in Fayette County also is up from last year, but Schulenburg again has the greatest growth.

For April alone, Schulenburg got $81,577 – up 40.1% from April 2021. That brings its year-to-date total to $364,825, a gain of 32.0% for the first four months of the year. This is the second month in a row that Schulenburg has had a huge sales tax gain. March’s rebate was up 89.2% from the prior March.

La Grange’s economy is also showing strong growth. The city got $175,270 for April, a solid 23.3% jump from last April. So far in 2022, La Grange has taken in $808,132 in sales tax. That puts it slightly behind Sealy and slightly ahead of Giddings in sales tax revenue.

All other towns in Fayette County are up by smaller amounts. Flatonia is 6.3% ahead of last year at this time; Round Top is up 5.5%, Carmine up 4.4% and Fayetteville up 1.0%.

Ellinger has received $20,351 so far this year (about half what Fayetteville has earned). This is the first year the newly incorporated town has had sales tax revenue.