The Texas Comptroller reported yesterday that the City’s sales tax receipts for November (which reflect September sales) were up by 2.3%.  This followed a decline of 3.9% in October.  The October decline was to be anticipated because of Harvey.  However, I had expected to see more of a rebound in November from storm repair purchases.  Perhaps delays from receiving insurance payments have pushed some of those sales out a bit further.

The City had a bump in sales tax receipts early this year from the Super Bowl, with month-over-month increases in March and April of 6.5% and 5.3%, respectively.  But longer term trend appears to be that precipitous decline when oil prices fell has leveled out.

The current City budget projects a 1% increase in sales taxes and it is running only slightly behind that through the first four months of the fiscal year.

Houston continues to  be significantly outperformed by its suburban neighbors.  I have been tracking six cities nearby cities.  Their sales tax receipts were up 9% this month.  I am working on a longer term comparison which I will be sharing with you soon.

If you are interested in looking at sales tax receipts for yourself, you can access that information for any entity in the State [here].

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