Sales tax collections in all of East Baton Rouge Parish are down 8.66% in July 2016 compared to the same month last year, according to statistics released today by the city-parish Finance Department.
The city-parish’s monthly sales tax report also says year-to-date collections are down 1.2% compared to the same period last year.
The city-parish collected roughly $14 million, including on vehicle sales, from its two-cent sales tax in July of this year, compared to roughly $15.4 million in July 2015.
Excluding vehicle sales, collections were down significantly within city limits, by 10.16%. Collections were $7.19 million within city limits in July of this year, compared to $8 million the same month last year.
Collections outside of city limits weren’t much better. They posted a 5.73% decline from $6 million to roughly $5.69 million in July.
While collections were down both inside and outside city limits, vehicle sales tax collections within city limits were particularly sluggish. They dropped by 20.7%, or more than $138,000, year over year in July. Vehicle sales tax collections, however, are generally considered a volatile economic measure.
Year to date, the city-parish in total has collected a little more than $105 million in sales tax revenue. That’s a drop of 1.2% from the roughly $106.3 million it had collected through the same period last year.
The city-parish attributes the drop in part to the historic mid-August flooding. The city-parish declared a state of emergency after the flood, which pushed a July deadline to file tax returns back to Sept. 20. “The decrease in collections for July is attributable in part to the returns which will be filed under this extension during September 2016,” the city-parish monthly report says.
