Austin sales tax still on the upswing

Comptroller Glenn Hegar released the latest sales tax data Wednesday, showing that Austin’s sales tax for July was $18,670,477, which is an increase of 15.82 percent over July 2014. So far this year, Austin’s sales tax is up 7.8 percent over last year. The state’s portion of sales tax revenues were up 2.7 percent compared to July 2014, according to the report. Cities saw an increase of about 5 percent statewide. Overall the state saw a 7.6 percent increase for the month of July for all local jurisdictions. Westlake was reported to have received an increase of more than 21 percent over last July, receiving $512,451. Round Rock received $6,464,699, an 8.64 percent increase over last July, but is still down 1.87 percent for the year. Sunset Valley is still doing well with a 16.45 percent increase for July for a sales tax check of $573,336 from the comptroller.