Austin benefited from significant increases in sales tax collections in May relative to both the same period last year and the April dataset.

Sales tax revenue is the net amount of money a city takes in as a result of the sales tax and reflects the amount of buyer participation in the economy.

According to May returns released Wednesday by the Texas Comptroller, Austin saw a 7.5 percent increase in sales tax revenue from the same time period last year, as well as a 7.5 percent increase from April.

The April sales tax revenue, on the other hand, showed Austin sales tax collections down by 1.57 percent from the same time last year.



Cities in the greater Austin area also saw significant sales tax revenue increases from last year, with Hutto having the highest percentage increase at 35.89 percent.

San Marcos saw the greatest decrease in sales tax revenue, down 4.79 percent from the same period last year but up 1.4 percent from the April data. With the exception of Leander, all other Austin area cities' sales tax revenue increased, with percentage increases ranging from 3-38 percent.