For the first time this year, sales tax collections in East Baton Rouge Parish were lower in May than they were during the same month last year.
The city-parish netted a total of approximately $15.1 million through its 2% sales tax and its share of vehicle tax collections in May. That’s about 2% less than the roughly $15.4 million netted in sales and vehicle taxes in May 2014, according to the latest monthly report from the city-parish Finance Department, released Thursday.
The decline comes after four straight months of increases in sales tax collections to open the year. 2015 got off to a strong start, with a 8.2% increase collections in January, followed by a 3.2% increase in February and a 5% rise in March. Collections slowed down in April but were still up 0.4%.
The May report shows collections were strong inside the Baton Rouge city limits, but were off significantly in other parts of the parish. Combined sales and vehicle tax collections totalled roughly $8.5 million in Baton Rouge in May, an increase of 3.3% from May 2014. Outside the city limits, the roughly $6.6 million netted represented an 8.2% decrease.
That follows a trend seen all year, during which year-to-date collections in Baton Rouge are up 7.3%, while collections outside the municipal limits are off 2.5% through the first five months of the year.
Year-to-date, total sales and vehicle tax collections for Baton Rouge and East Baton Rouge Parish stood at roughly $75 million at the end of May, an increase of about $2 million, or 2.8%, over collections of $72.9 million during the first five months of 2014.
See the complete sales tax report.
—Steve Sanoski
