March 1, 2024

State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $3.7 Billion in February

(AUSTIN) — Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.69 billion in February, .05 percent more than in February 2023. The majority of February sales tax revenue is based on sales made in January and remitted to the agency in February.

“Overall monthly state sales tax collections slightly surpassed those of a year ago,” Hegar said. “The trends we have seen recently continued last month, with the sectors that have been slowing continuing to slide and others that have been growing showing persistent strength.

“Among sectors primarily driven by business spending, remittances from the construction sector continued to grow, while receipts from the manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors were both down from February last year. Receipts from the oil and gas mining sector were modestly up compared with a year ago.

“Remittances from the consumer-driven retail trade sector were once again slightly above year ago totals. In contrast to last month, collections from most major subsectors within the retail trade grew, the exceptions being remittances from building materials and furniture and home goods stores. Both of those subsectors declined by low double-digits compared with February 2023. 

“Receipts from electronics and appliance stores saw a large increase compared with a year ago, driven by a better-than-expected post-holiday shopping season. Remittances from the electronic shopping subsector continued to climb strongly, as growth in online merchandising continued to outpace that of in-store sales.

“Receipts from restaurants grew in the mid-single digits and higher than the inflation rate for food away from home.”

Total sales tax revenue for the three months ending in February 2024 was up 0.4 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 — $586 million, up 8 percent from February 2023;
• motor fuel taxes — $302 million, down 1 percent from February 2023;
• oil production tax — $458 million, down 7 percent from February 2023;
• natural gas production tax — $186 million, down 39 percent from February 2023;
• hotel occupancy tax — $58 million, up 38 percent from February 2023; and
• alcoholic beverage taxes — $128 million, down 1 percent from February 2023.

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.