Taxable sales dip again

Carson City suffered another deep hit to its taxable sales in March.

The 24.5 percent drop compared to the same month of 2008 was much like the near 26 percent drop the capital suffered in February.

And like February, the culprit was auto sales " down 42 percent in March to $11.6 million.

While painful for what used to be Carson City's largest tax generator, that is still somewhat higher than the $9.1 million in sales reported during February.

Total taxable sales for the capital were just less than $63 million in March.

Statewide, total sales fell 16.5 percent, slightly better than February's 18.8 percent drop. The total reported was $3.59 billion.

In Carson City, the numbers were helped by general merchandise stores which were off just 4 percent to under $15 million for the month. Statewide that category suffered an 11.5 percent drop.

Douglas County was feeling the same pain as the Carson City, reporting a 22 percent drop in total taxable sales to $42.7 million for the month. In Churchill County, the decline was 15 percent to $25 million, a reversal from the more than 20 percent increase in February.

In Lyon County, sales fell nearly 27 percent to $24.8 million. Throughout western Nevada, the decreases were in a wide variety of categories, clearly showing the depth of the recession.

Storey County, where monthly sales are intimately tied to the fortunes of the Reno-Tahoe Industrial Park, fell to $3.7 million in sales, nearly 70 percent below March 2008.

Clark County was down by 14.5 percent with total sales at $2.76 billion and Washoe declined 27.4 percent to $434.4 million overall.

The only county to report an increase in taxable sales was Lander, which saw increases in categories related to the mining industry including a more than 300 percent jump in machinery manufacturing.

Overall, the county was up more than 23 percent to $28.5 million in March.