Arkansas Gross sales Tax Income Up Practically 15% In February, internet gross sales exceeded $ 500 million

February's tax revenue report again shows broad year-over-year gains, including a nearly 15% increase in statewide sales and the use of tax revenue – a sign that consumer spending appears to be robust.

The Arkansas Department of the Treasury (DFA) reported Tuesday that gross sales for the current fiscal year (July 2020 through February 2021) are $ 4.913 billion, up 8.4% over the same period in 2019-2020 and the budget forecast corresponds to an increase of 11.6% compared to the same period last year. Part of the profit includes a shift in collections when the 2020 tax due date moved from April to July, according to the DFA report.

Tuesday's report also showed year-to-date net sales of $ 529.1 million.

Individual income tax revenue was $ 2.411 billion for the first eight fiscal months, an 8.4% increase over the same period in 2019-2020 and an 11.8% increase from budget forecast. Sales and use tax revenue – an indicator of consumer spending – was $ 1.851 billion for the first eight months, up 8.4% over the same period last year and 9.2% over budget forecast.

"Among the most important survey categories, sales tax surveys continue to exceed forecast and show high year-on-year and trend average growth," noted John Shelnutt, DFA director for economic analysis and tax research, in a memo with the February report.

Corporate tax revenue for the first eight months of fiscal year was $ 320.1 million, an increase of $ 41.2 million over the same period last year and an increase of 26.1% over budget guidance.

FEBRUARY REVENUE

Gross sales for the month were $ 493.6 million, down 1.6% from February 2020 and up 6.9% from forecast.

Individual income tax revenue was $ 238.3 million in February, a 12.2% decrease from February 2020 and a 1.4% decrease from forecast. The decrease is largely due to the late electronic filing of taxes due to changes to the tax law approved by Congress in December, according to the DFA report.

Sales tax revenue for sales and usage was $ 221.8 million for February, up 14.9% from February 2020 and up 16.4% from forecast. Corporate tax revenue was $ 5.3 million for February, a decrease of $ 2.8 million from February 2020 and a decrease of $ 4.2 million from forecast.

The previous fiscal year (July 2019 – June 2020) ended with net sales of USD 369.4 million more than expected. Despite several months at the beginning of 2020, tax revenues for fiscal year 2020 only fell by 2.5% due to economic disruptions as a result of COVID-19 shutdowns. Sales were 4.1% above the revised forecast. Last fiscal year gross sales were $ 6.967 billion, 2.5% lower than fiscal 2019, but $ 272.5 million higher than forecast.