Austin continues to see sales tax growth

Although statewide sales tax revenue fell about 1.2 percent overall this month, Austin sales tax figures show continued growth for the city, according to figures released by Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. The comptroller’s website says that Austin collected more than $15,540,000 this May, compared to about $14,128,000 in May 2014. So far this year, Austin is 6.58 percent ahead of where it was at this time last year. Data is released two months after taxes are collected, so the information released in July pertains to taxes collected in May. For this year so far, Austin has collected $112,496,736 compared to last year’s collection of $105,546,370. City financial planners had projected sales tax growth for the current fiscal year at 4.67 percent. The current financial forecast is that the city will end the year at 5.8 percent ahead of the budgeted growth, a city spokesman said. On the other hand, Round Rock sales tax collections fell by 5.6 percent over last year, according to the comptroller’s website.