Retail Sales Perk Up

After lagging behind projections during most of March, retail sales may be picking up as the month comes to an end.  During the last two days (March 27 and 28), month-to-date totals have exceeded forecasts.  With weekend sales still to be tallied, tax receipts are at 99.8% of the target for the month as a whole.

Sales tax receipts during the past week are also running well ahead of a year ago.  This is impressive since Easter fell at the end of March last year (March 31) but will not occur this year until the latter part of this April (April 20).

The Tax Tracker reports revenue collected from the corporate, sales and personal income taxes, irrespective of into which account the revenue is deposited.  For example, the proceeds of a surcharge on high-income taxpayers is earmarked for mental health services.   Because a piece of the income and sales taxes are earmarked for specific programs, the general progress of annual collections are as important to those who monitor these programs as well as it is to those watching the health of the General Fund.