Money Flows in During Annual Antiques Shows

Another Spring Antiques Show came and went in northern Fayette County. The event, and another one just like it in the fall, brings thousands of vendors and shoppers from all over the world.

Vast sums of money changes hands during these events – from the vendor sales to lodging and restaurants, not to mention all the ancillary services like movers and vehicle rentals. How big a part do these events play in the local economy? It’s hard to tell. But sales tax information provides a glimpse.

The Town of Round Top collects a 1.5 percent sales tax. The State Comptroller’s Office distributes sales tax receipts to local governments about two months after those taxes are collected. The Comptroller’s Office reports those payments on its website.

According to the Comptroller’s data, the Town of Round Top received $80,994.42 in sales tax receipts in May 2023 for taxes collected in March of that year, when the spring antiques shows take place. That would amount to $5,399,628 million in taxable sales for the month of March.

In December, Round Top collected $86,552.75 in sales tax receipts for the month of October, when the fall antiques shows take place. That computes to $5,770,183.33 in taxable sales for that month.

Round Top’s average sales tax receipts for the other 10 months in 2023 was $25,239.88, which calculates to $1,682,658.53 in average taxable sales for each of those months.

That means retail sales in Round Top more than tripled during each antiques show, and that’s only accounting for sales within the one-mile square of Round Top proper, and only for transactions where the seller charged sales tax as required by law.

The trend appears to a lesser extent when looking at sales tax receipts in Carmine. The two months with the most sales tax receipts are May and December.

There’s no way to track the sales tax data from Warrenton or the other unincorporated communities along the antiques trail.

But we can see the trend in sales tax data for Fayette County as a whole, especially regarding the spring antiques show. In 2023, the County’s highest month for sales tax collections was May with $317,407.11. Average receipts for the rest of the year was $256,927.95.