February 4, 2020

State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $3 Billion in January

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.08 billion in January, 8.9 percent more than in January 2019.

“Growth in state sales tax revenue was led by receipts from the retail trade and information services sectors, while receipts from oil- and gas-mining were down from a year ago,” Hegar said. “January retail trade sector collections were higher than a year ago in part because more Christmas shopping days fell in December. Collections also were slightly boosted by marketplace providers and remote sellers, who first began collecting Texas sales taxes in October.”

The majority of January sales tax revenue is based on sales made in December and remitted to the agency in January. Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in January 2020 was up 6.6 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 57 percent of all tax collections.

In January 2020, Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes:

• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $471.0 million, up 10.6 percent from January 2019;
• motor fuel taxes — $308.9 million, up 1.3 percent from January 2019;
• natural gas production taxes — $131.0 million, down 14.4 percent from January 2019; and
• oil production taxes — $395.7 million, up 44.1 percent from January 2019.

For details on all monthly collections, visit the Comptroller's Monthly State Revenue Watch. For an extensive history of tax policy developments and fees since 1972, visit our updated Sources of Revenue publication.