On Monday, December 4, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.78 billion in November, 11.1 percent more than in November 2016. Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in November 2017 was up 9.5 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Sales tax revenue is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 58 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 November 2017, Texas collected the following revenue from those taxes:
- Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $415.3 million, up 9.2 percent from November 2016 (vehicle purchases to replace cars damaged by Hurricane Harvey continued to boost those tax collections)
- Motor fuel taxes — $308.2 million, up 1.7 percent from November 2016; and
- Oil and natural gas production taxes — $354.6 million, up 39.9 percent from November 2016.