DALLAS – November Texas sales tax revenue was down 3.3% in November compared to a year earlier, to $2.58 billion, reflecting the continuing fall in oil and gas prices across the state, Comptroller Glenn Hegar said.
Taxes for local governments fell 3% to $626.3 million, Hegar said.
"Sales tax revenue declined again due to reduced spending in oil and gas-related sectors," Hegar said. "Remittances from other sectors, including construction, restaurants and retail trade, continued to grow. The net decrease in sales tax receipts is in line with the October Certification Revenue Estimate."
In three of the last four months, sales tax revenue has fallen compared to the same months in 2014. Last year was a record year for sales tax revenue and a banner year for the oil and gas industry.
In a separate report, Hegar said that severance taxes on oil in the first nine months of the year fell $3 billion to $1.7 billion. Taxes on natural gas production dropped from $1.65 billion to $798 million over the first eight months of the year, according to the data.
Severance taxes are collected on extraction of oil, gas and minerals.
After falling from more than $100 per barrel in June 2014, oil prices have continued to drop in December, trading recently below $38 per barrel. The decline comes amid a glut of oil in storage and a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to continue production at the current rate.
Strategically, OPEC is aiming to put U.S. shale producers out of business, analysts said.
At the beginning of 2015, Hegar based his revenue assumptions on an oil price of $69.27 per barrel. In October, he reduced that to $49.48 per barrel.
