Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.37 billion in July, 1.5 percent lower than in July 2015. Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in July 2016 is down 3.3 percent compared to the same period a year ago. “State sales tax collections continue to be down, largely due to depressed spending in the oil and natural gas-related sectors,” Hegar said. “By contrast, collections from the construction and retail trade sectors rose compared to the previous year.”
Sales tax revenue is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 56 percent of all tax collections. Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes, motor fuel taxes and oil and natural gas production taxes also are large revenue sources for the state.
In July 2016, Texas collected the following revenue from those taxes:
- motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $441.9 million, up 1.0 percent from July 2015;
- motor fuel taxes — $297.4 million, up 0.2 percent from July 2015; and
- oil and natural gas production taxes — $201.8 million, down 33.9 percent from July 2015.