Sales tax receipts down in Carson City for April

Taxable sales increased 8.6 percent in April, totaling $4.95 billion.

But Carson City didn’t share in the wealth, instead reporting a 2.3 percent decrease in sales to $93.37 million.

The problem was Carson City’s biggest sales tax generator, auto sales, which decreased 4.4 percent to $28.4 million compared to $29.7 million in April 2017.

In addition, the weak 2.8 percent gain by General Merchandise Stores didn’t help. But Building Material sales were up a healthy 14.4 percent to $13.4 million.

Despite a weak April, Carson City is up 8.8 percent for the 10 months of fiscal 2018 reported thus far.

Statewide, the story was Clark and Washoe counties. The two provide about 86 percent of total taxable sales in Nevada and both were up strongly in April. Clark reported $3.58 billion in sales and Washoe County $681 million. That’s 8.2 percent and 12.3 percent increases, respectively.

Churchill County reported a modest 3.5 percent increase to $26.28 million for the month. The 4.2 percent increase in General Merchandise Store sales was offset by a 2.7 percent decrease in auto sales. Both those categories are well over $3 million in monthly sales.

But building material sales continue to boom, growing 15.8 percent in April to $2.4 million.

Churchill’s taxable sales are up 20.1 percent for the 10 months of the fiscal year

For the month, 15 of Nevada’s 17 counties reported increases. In addition to Carson City, Storey County was in the red with a 22.6 percent drop to $122.6 million in total sales. In Storey, the monthly numbers are always tied directly to business activity at the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.

Douglas County reported a 20.6 percent gain over April 2017 with $63.4 million in taxable sales. The biggest single driver there was the huge increase in Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing that rose from just $42,187 a year ago to $4.78 million this year.

Five of Nevada’s counties have seen double-digit growth in taxable sales so far this fiscal year: Churchill, Eureka, Humboldt, Nye and White Pine.

For the 10 months of fiscal year 2018, the state is us up 4.2 percent with total taxable sales just under $48.59 billion. That translates to $89.34 million to the state General Fund thus far, a 4.5 percent increase.