Texas Sales Tax Revenues Rise 2.7%

DALLAS – Texas sales tax revenue grew 2.7% in September to $2.01 billion, state comptroller Susan Combs reported Oct. 9.

Combs will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts their October local sales tax allocations totaling $579.8 million, up 5.2% from October 2012.

“State sales tax revenue collections continued to grow at a moderate pace,” Combs said. “Growth was led by collections from the construction, telecommunications and retail sectors. State sales tax revenue has now increased for 42 consecutive months.”

In another economic report, Texas added 22,330 private sector jobs during the month of September, according to the ADP Regional Employment Report.  In collaboration with Moody’s Analytics Inc., ADP Regional Employment Report measures the change in regional and state nonfarm private employment each month on a seasonally-adjusted basis.

The impact of the federal government shutdown has not been measured in Texas, which is home to major military installations such as Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Ft. Hood in Killeen and Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.  Most federal employees have been furloughed by the shutdown.

Texas is now rated triple-A by all three ratings agencies after Standard & Poor’s recently boosted its rating one notch from AA-plus.  Outlooks are stable.

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