AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ State sales tax collections were down 8.8 percent in February, compared with the same month a year ago.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs said Wednesday that the state collected $1.6 billion in sales tax revenue in February. And even though that’s down 8.8 percent compared to February 2009, she said sales tax losses have begun to moderate.
Before February there were eight straight months of double-digit declines.
Combs says sales tax revenue continues to be down in major sectors such as retail, oil and gas production and construction. But there’s a slight uptick in the manufacturing sector.
She says there may be more declines in the coming months before a return to sales tax revenue growth later in 2010.