City’s September sales tax rebate continues upward trend

The city of Graham’s sales tax rebate dropped 4.5 percent this month, compared with the same month last year, after three months in a row of rebates that were up over the previous year. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $668.3 million in local sales tax allocations for September, 6.2 percent more than in September 2016. These allocations are based on sales made in July by businesses that report tax monthly. Sales tax rebates in Texas are slowly recovering from declines last year related to a downturn in the oil and gas industry. It should be noted that sales taxes do not make up the bulk of a city’s revenues. Graham’s rebate this month from its 1.5 percent rate was $166,034.85, down 4.49 percent from the $173,851.53 rebate received during the same month last year. So far this year, the city’s rebates are down 3.75 percent, to $1,641,312.47, compared to $1,705,409.87 received at this time last year. For the rest of this story, subscribe to our print or online edition.