Sales tax rebates continue to show steady improvement

The city of Graham’s sales tax rebate rose just over 2 percent this month, compared with the same month last year, continuing a trend of rebates improving over the previous year. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced he will send cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts $660.4 million in local sales tax allocations for October, 1.6 percent more than in October 2016. These allocations are based on sales made in August 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 $166,883.08, up 2.02 percent from the $163,563.34 rebate received during the same month last year. For the rest of this story, subscribe to our print or online edition.