From the San Antonio Express-News
Strong growth in the state’s oil and gas sector helped sales tax revenue in Texas grow by double-digits in April, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said Wednesday.
Texas collected $2.7 billion in sales tax receipts last month, up more than 13 percent from the $2.4 billion collected in April 2017, the comptroller’s office said in a news release.
Gains from sectors with ties to the oil and gas industry provided the biggest boost to sales tax receipts last month, Hegar said in the release, while revenue from retail trade and restaurants grew “briskly.”
Tax receipts from the state’s oil and gas industry show just how much the sector has rebounded from years of turmoil. Revenue from oil and natural gas production taxes spiked more than 56 percent last month from $285.1 million in April 2017 to $445.2 million last month.
The growth in sales tax revenue came as Texas retailers reported a slight decline in sales in April to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, according to results of the Dallas Fed’s monthly service sector and retail outlook surveys released Wednesday.
But activity in the state’s broader service sector — which covers intangible goods like health care, entertainment, and legal and professional services — still grew in April, albeit at a slower pace than previous months, executives told the Dallas Fed.
Revenue from other state taxes also grew in April, according to the comptroller’s office.
Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes yielded $293.2 million in receipts, up 32.1 percent from the $222 million the state collected in April 2017.
But that gain is largely because fewer Texas counties took a 5 percent commission from the motor vehicle sales tax normally collected in the spring and will likely be offset in May, the comptroller’s office said.
Motor fuel tax revenue grew a modest 2.1 percent from $316.1 million in April 2017 to $322.6 million last month.
