EBR sales tax collections continue decline

For the 16th consecutive month, East Baton Rouge sales tax collections were lower than the year before. There was $11.6 million in sales tax collected in July, a 4.4% drop from the nearly $12.2 million collected in July 2009, say officials with the city-parish Finance Department. Those figures do not include vehicle sales tax collections. The last time East Baton Rouge collections beat the previous year’s total was March 2009. Collections inside the city limits showed the smallest drop, falling nearly 2.8% from about $6.6 million to roughly $6.4 million. Collections from sales inside the unincorporated areas were down 6.4%, from nearly $5.6 million to over $5.2 million. Through the first seven months of the year, $83.4 million in sales tax revenue has been collected in the parish, a 5.2% decrease from the almost $88 million through July 2009.