State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $2.4 Billion In December

December totals collected this holiday season were higher than the 2015 season

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said today that state sales tax revenue totaled $2.44 billion in December, 4.9 percent more than in December 2015.

“Sales tax revenue growth was led by collections from sectors driven by consumer spending – retail trade and information services,” Hegar said. “Tax receipts from oil- and natural gas-related sectors continued to decline relative to the previous year.”

Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in December 2016 was up by 0.6 percent compared with 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 December 2016, Texas collected the following revenue from those taxes: 

• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $357 million, down 1.3 percent from December 2015;
• motor fuels taxes — $289.5 million, up 7.5 percent from December 2015; and
• oil and natural gas production taxes — $228.5 million, down 4.4 percent from December 2015.