Comptroller Combs distributes $690 million in local sales tax

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs recently announced the state collected $1.76 billion in sales tax revenue in January, up 12.9 percent compared to January 2006.

Combs sent $609.4 million in local sales tax to Texas cities, counties, transit systems and special purpose taxing districts, up 6.4 percent compared to sales tax distributions to local governments in February 2006.

"Local sakes tax collections are up, but not by double digits," Combs said. "This confirms what retailers reported earlier regarding their holiday sales. Sales were up, but not as strong as some businesses expected."

January state sales tax collections and February's local sales tax allocations primavice. rily represent sales made in December, but also include earlier sales by businesses that report sales tax to the Comptroller on a quarterly annual basis.

The Comptroller sent $414.5 million in sales tax to Texas cities, up 6.1 percent compared to February 2006 payments. Texas counties received February sales tax payments of $35.6 million, up 6.9 percent.

The 115 special purpose taxing districts around the state received $18.7 million in sales tax, up 12.9 percent compared to February 2006. Ten local transit systems received $140.6 million in February sales tax payments, up 6.2 percent compared to a year ago.

The Comptroller's next local sales tax allocation will be made Friday, March 9.