Revenue from Sales Tax Still Slipping for Fayette Towns

Consumer spending in the U.S. increased only twotenths of a percent in May, the latest month available, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That slow-down is certainly reflected in sales tax revenues for towns and counties in this area.

La Grange got $216,317 in July as its share of local sales tax receipts. That’s down nine-tenths of a percent from its revenue last July.

Much the same is true for most other towns in the county.

Year-to-date revenue for 2024 is down for four of Fayette County’s seven towns.

Carmine is bucking the trend, with a 15.9% increase so far this year.

All seven towns are running ahead of this time two years ago, but last year was a record-setter. That’s made 2023 hard to match.

Round Top and Ellinger are both up slightly from last year. Round Top’s increase is 2.2% and Ellinger’s 3.8%.

The July check put La Grange over the $1.5 million mark for the seven months. The same period last year, though, saw $1.6 million come into the city treasury.

Schulenburg has had an even greater drop – down 13.3% year to date – but again due to having had a recordsetting year in 2023.

Rising retail food prices may have an effect on this.

Groceries are not taxed in Texas. As a result, when consumers shift more of their spending to food items, they have less to spend on taxable goods.

Texas counties also have the option to levy a local sales tax. Seven in this region do, and three of them have experienced declines in revenue year to date.

Fayette County is down 4.9% for the year. Washington County is down 2.7%. Burleson County is down 12.2%.

Gonzales, Lee and Colorado counties, on the other hand, have boomed this year. Colorado County has received $1.6 million so far this year, up 29.7% from the same period a year ago. Lee County is up 25.1% and Gonzales County is up 24.8%. Two area towns have had startling increases this year. Hempstead has more than doubled from last year and Shiner has nearly doubled.

Exactly what has caused these gains isn’t known, since tax payments from individual businesses is confidential under Texas law.