September sales taxes up statewide and in Carson City

Despite weak performance by auto dealers and general merchandise stores — Carson City’s two biggest taxable sales categories — the capital reported a 6.3 percent increase in total sales for September.

Car sales were up just 5.5 percent to $18.8 million and General Merchandise Stores up just nine-tenths to $11.4 million.

Other categories including metal manufacturing, specialty trade contractors and wholesalers of durable goods all reported double digit increases. And construction of buildings reported a 1,200 percent increase from $12,677 to $167,070.

Carson’s total sales for the month were $70.4 million, which puts the capital up 7.8 percent so far this fiscal year.

Statewide, total taxable sales finished September at $4.23 billion with all but five counties reporting an increase over the same month last year. That is a 4 percent increase, led by Clark County’s $3.15 billion in sales, a 6 percent rise over a year ago.

Statewide and in Clark, the Accommodations category led the way with an 84 percent increase. Miscellaneous Retailers also were up dramatically, nearly 117 percent. Food Services and Drinking Places were up over 12 percent.

Churchill County taxable sales were up 10.9 percent for the month despite a hug drop in the Utilities category from $4.2 million to just $200,578. The county finished the month up about $2.3 million to just over $23 million in sales. More than half of the increase was in the Food Services and Drinking Places category which was up $1.4 million to $3.8 million.

Douglas County was down just over 3 percent in September to $55.2 million. Car sales were off 7.7 percent to $2 million and Food Services and Drinking Places, the county’s largest sales tax producer, down 4.6 percent to $11.7 million.

Lyon County taxable sales fell 9.7 percent to $30.6 million. The biggest decline was in auto sales, down 24.4 percent to $2.1 million.

Total gross revenue collections from the sales and use tax were just over $329 million. The state General Fund portion of that is $82.2 million, a 6.3 percent increase over the prior year. That leaves the General Fund portion nine tenths below the Economic Forum projections for the fiscal year through September.