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Sales and use tax collections in the 121 Houston-area cities that collect the tax totaled $696.6 million in Q1/24, up 0.2 percent from the $695.5 million collected in Q1/23. Adjusted for inflation, however, collections are down 3.5 percent.

Collections are a proxy for economic activity in the region. Both businesses and consumers pay sales taxes on their purchases and the pace of collections tends to track the business cycle. The recent drop in collections (after adjusting for inflation) suggests some weakness in the local economy.
Among the 32 cities in the metro area which typically receive $500,000 or more in taxes each month, activity is down in 19 cities after adjusting for inflation, flat in two, and up in 11. These 32 cities account for 79.9 percent of all sales tax collections in the region.

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts releases allocated payments from the sales and use tax monthly. There is a two-month delay between when the tax is collected and when it is allocated. Data for January through April will be released in June. 

Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research Division

Patrick Jankowski
Chief Economist
Senior Vice President, Research
pjankowski@szhkt888.com

Leta Wauson
Research Director
lwauson@szhkt888.com