Dateline: October 16, 2003

Sales tax rebates up compared to last year

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

There was good news for the Donley County economy when Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn delivered monthly sales tax payments to local municipalities last week.

The October sales tax rebates showed increases for the cities of Clarendon, Hedley, and Howardwick. The rebates include local sales taxes collected in August and reported to the Comptroller in September.

Clarendon’s rebate was up almost four percent for a total of $18,269.75.  Hedley received $601.69 compared to $403.53 for the same period last year, and Howardwick’s rebate was $1,172.10 compared to $818.52 one year ago.

Comptroller Strayhorn sent sales tax rebates of $207.6 million to Texas cities, 2.9 percent more than October 2002. Calendar year-to-date, city sales tax rebates are up 0.9 percent.

The state’s share of sales tax reported in September was $1.12 billion, up 2.1 percent compared to a year ago.

“The September 2003 up tick in sales tax receipts may be largely attributable to the Advance Child Tax Credits that the U.S. Treasury mailed out to 1.8 million Texas families in late July and early August,” Strayhorn said. “This pumped about $1.12 billion into the Texas economy. “In addition, the Sales Tax Holiday during the first weekend of August was once again a success. Sales tax reported by clothing and apparel stores rose 3.6 percent, or $1.6 million, for the month.”

Since January, local sales tax rebates statewide are down 0.3 percent compared to the same period in 2002. But the news is better here where Clarendon is up 3.33 percent for the year to date, Hedley is up 17.9 percent, and Howardwick is slightly ahead with a gain of 1.95 percent.

So far this year, Clarendon is slightly ahead of its nearest neighboring county seats in Armstrong and Hall counties. Claude is down 4.99 percent for the year to date, and the total for Memphis has dropped 2.6 percent.