October 2, 2023

State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $3.8 Billion in September

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.79 billion in September, 2.8 percent more than in September 2022. The majority of September sales tax revenue is based on sales made in August and remitted to the agency in September.

“Modest growth in sales tax revenue compared with last year may reflect a slowing pace of economic growth, as well as cooling inflation,” Hegar said. “Remittances from the oil and gas mining sector led all major sectors in growth, as has been the case nearly every month since the economy began to emerge from the pandemic. Other sectors driven by business spending were mixed, with receipts from the construction sector up moderately while remittances from manufacturing and wholesale trade fell slightly. 

“Remittances from the retail trade sector overall were slightly up from a year ago. Among retail subsectors, receipts from grocery stores saw the largest increase compared with a year ago, followed by those from convenience stores and gasoline stations. Receipts from the electronic shopping subsector grew moderately, while receipts from general merchandise stores were essentially flat compared with a year ago. Receipts from home improvement centers were down for the third consecutive month, and from furniture and home goods stores down for the eighth month in a row.

“Restaurant receipts increased, but at less than the inflation rate for food away from home in August.”

Ahead of the third called special session set to begin on Oct. 9, Comptroller Hegar also announced that his office will release his Certification Revenue Estimate, which provides detailed tables for the revenue estimate used to certify the General Appropriations Act for the 2024-25 biennium and other appropriations bills approved by the 88th Legislature.

Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in September 2023 was up 3.7 percent compared with 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.

Texas collected the following revenue from other major taxes:

• motor vehicle sales and rental taxes — $631 million, up 2 percent from September 2022;
• motor fuel taxes — $329 million, up less than 1 percent from September 2022;
• oil production tax — $544 million, down 2 percent from September 2022;
• natural gas production tax — $208 million, down 57 percent from September 2022;
• hotel occupancy tax — $59 million, up 3 percent from September 2022; and,
• alcoholic beverage taxes — $144 million, up 4 percent from September 2022.

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.