April 2, 2020

State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $2.7 Billion in March

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $2.69 billion in March, 2.9 percent more than in March 2019.

“The modest growth in state sales tax revenue was led by collections from the retail trade sector, while collections from oil- and gas-related sectors declined from a year ago,” Hegar said. “While some businesses may have begun to experience slowing traffic in late February, formal social distancing measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic were not adopted until well into March, and the impact of those measures would not be reflected in this month’s sales tax collections based on February sales.”

The majority of March sales tax revenue is based on sales made in February and remitted to the agency in March. Total sales tax revenue in fiscal year 2020 through March 2020 was up 5 percent compared to the same period a year ago. The Comptroller’s Certification Revenue Estimate released last October had projected a 4.8 percent increase in sales tax revenue in fiscal year 2020.

“We expect that future sales tax revenue will be drastically affected because much of the economy has been shut down to combat the coronavirus pandemic and because of the negative impact of a global oil price war,” Hegar said.

Sales tax is the largest source of state funding for the state budget, accounting for 57 percent of all tax collections. In March 2020, Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes:

• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $388.5 million, down 2.6 percent from March 2019;
• motor fuel taxes — $293 million, up 2.6 percent from March 2019;
• natural gas production taxes — $101.6 million, down 30.1 percent from March 2019; and
• oil production taxes — $305.5 million, up 10.5 percent from March 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.