Texas ended its dramatic fiscal year by beating expectations with record revenues.
In a year that included a third and still-running fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and a crippling winter freeze
With all-funds tax collections at $61.47 billion, sales tax revenue of $36 billion was up 7.1% from fiscal 2020. General revenue of $60.5 billion was up 6.2% from fiscal 2020.
Oil production tax revenue of $3.45 billion was up 6.8% from fiscal 2020 while natural gas production tax revenue of $1.57 billion rose nearly 70% from fiscal 2020.
“Yearly revenues were ahead of our projections in the revised Biennial Revenue Estimate released in August,” said Comptroller Glenn Hegar. “Motor vehicle sales and rental taxes and the natural gas production tax were particularly strong in the final month of fiscal 2021.”
A year ago, Hegar reported revenue for fiscal 2020 totaled $56.98 billion, down 1.5% from fiscal 2019.
In the last pre-pandemic year of fiscal 2019, general revenues rose 1.2% to $57.87 billion.
In November, Hegar’s office will deposit $1.46 billion in each of the Economic Stabilization Fund and State Highway Fund, up from the $1.13 billion deposited in each fund in November 2020.
Hegar also said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.33 billion in August, the last month of the fiscal year. That was 18% more than in August 2020.
Year-over-year increases for most tax revenues continue to be affected by base effects, Hegar said. Year-ago revenue collections to which this year’s collections are compared were suppressed by the pandemic.
“August state sales tax collections continued to surpass year-ago and pre-pandemic levels, with the rate of growth in receipts from non-retail sectors again outpacing that from retail trade," Hegar said.
“The largest growth in retail receipts from year-ago levels was from clothing and clothing accessories stores,” Hegar said. “Bars and restaurants also showed robust growth compared to August of last year. Both sectors were substantially negatively impacted by the pandemic.”
Collections from big box and online general merchandisers and building materials stores continued to grow, but at a moderate pace, Hegar said.
