Sales Tax Payments Show Retail Slow-Down in Area
The area’s retail economy has slowed so far in 2026, and that was even before the Iran war began.
Of the 25 cities in the area tracked by the Record, more than half are seeing sales tax declines from last year’s levels.
Fayette County towns are bucking the trend slightly, with four of the seven having gains as of the first three months of the year.
Thanks to a very strong March gain, La Grange is up for the year, even though just slightly.
So far this year, the city has received just over $700,000 in rebates from the state as its share of retail sales taxes collected here. This basically reflects sales actually made from November through January.
Round Top showed the biggest gain in the county, up 8.3% from the same three months of last year. This puts it in third place in the county, ahead of Flatonia and behind of Schulenburg.
Schulenburg just passed a third of a million dollars in city sales tax income, reflecting a 4.3% gain over last year. Carmine also shows a gain, up 4.4%
Local Sales Tax Revenues
First Three Months of Year (Jan.-March)
Fayette County Cities
Pct. Change Tax Rate 2026 2025 2024 2023 2025 to ’26 La Grange 1.50% 701,981 699,347 650,483 653,595 Up 0.3% Schulenburg 1.50% 333,601 319,633 304,662 355,406 Up 4.3% Round Top 1.50% 130,704 120,657 106,947 103,183 Up 8.3% Flatonia 1.50% 126,496 132,048 111,873 116,063 Down 4.2% Carmine 1.50% 45,102 43,176 38,816 35,308 Up 4.4% Fayetteville 1.50% 33,263 54,241 30,980 41,948 Down 38.8% Ellinger 1.00% 15,981 17,250 16,575 16,834 Down 7.3%
Other Area Cities
Bastrop 1.50% 3,400,118 3,612,685 3,145,757 3,053,268 Down 5.8% Brenham 1.50% 2,631,751 2,846,911 2,510,564 2,306,643 Down 7.5% Sealy 1.50% 2,046,759 1,071,738 856,411 853,489 Up 90.9% Lockhart 1.50% 1,255,873 1,350,488 1,104,725 965,157 Down 7.0% Elgin 1.50% 1,139,413 1,135,484 1,012,005 978,649 Up 0.3% Gonzales 1.50% 829,902 847,602 732,045 807,214 Down 2.0% Giddings 1.50% 756,712 773,623 715,261 702,997 Down 2.1% Luling 1.50% 732,183 601,848 519,108 487,837 Up 21.6% Caldwell 1.50% 632,822 597,210 549,826 516,382 Up 5.9% Yoakum 2.00% 558,226 600,862 525,401 543,846 Down 7.1% Columbus 1.50% 502,162 498,140 537,789 518,671 Up 0.8% Hallettsville 2.00% 405,072 432,446 371,338 374,674 Down 6.3% Bellville 1.50% 393,047 344,777 278,018 289,742 Up 14.0% Shiner 2.00% 291,447 300,241 283,813 134,054 Down 2.27% Smithville 1.50% 259,148 251,255 228,683 219,978 Up 3.1% Weimar 1.50% 220,399 222,041 205,952 229,240 Down 0.7% Eagle Lake 1.00% 109,358 116,268 103,301 112,202 Down 5.9% Lexington 1.50% 104,987 117,111 105,362 98,985 Down 10.3%
County Governments 2026 2025 2024 2023 1 yr change Bastrop 0.50% 2,998,372 2,512,730 2,141,674 2,057,163 Up 19.3% Washington 0.50% 1,280,447 1,249,280 1,133,513 1,162,184 Up 2.5% Austin 0.50% 1,131,819 756,981 599,575 498,594 Up 49.5% Caldwell 0.50% 1,044,254 1,059,983 891,782 808,333 Down 1.4% Fayette 0.50% 773,753 833,775 793,736 881,675 Down 7.2% Colorado 0.50% 620,319 678,047 542,291 528,623 Down 8.5% Lee 0.50% 562,989 519,481 415,272 403,938 Up 8.3% Gonzales 0.50% 551,758 1,008,535 984,912 656,315 Down 45.3% Burleson 0.50% 387,547 409,126 361,954 413,474 Down 5.2%
Flatonia, Ellinger and Carmine are all down from last year’s levels. Fayetteville has dropped by 38.8%, but that is because 2025 was such a big year for Fayetteville. The 2026 amount is still well above its 2024 revenue.
Of the other 18 towns the Record tracks, only seven show gains from this time last year.
Sealy has by far the biggest gain, up 90.9%. The first three months of 2026 saw Sealy get just over $2 million, compared to barely $1 million last year. Bellville, which is also in Austin County, is up 14.0%. Austin County’s sales tax revenue is up 49.5%, by far the greatest among the nine area counties that levy the optional local sales tax. The state does not reveal sales information on individual businesses, so the reason for the gains isn’t known.
Other towns seeing gains so far this year are Elgin, Caldwell, Columbus and Smithville.
Most towns are down by single digits. Bastrop, the area’s biggest retail center, is down 5.8%, Brenham is down 7.5% and Lockhart is down 7.0%.
Among the nine counties with a sales tax, all are down except Bastrop, Washington, Austin and Lee.