DATA: April sales tax numbers show 20% drop in Austin

Sales across Austin were some of the most sluggish in the state in April, new data from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts shows.

According to sales tax allocations figures released June 11, Austin generated $16.29 million in sales tax in April. That figure represents a 19.93% drop—or more than $4 million total—from last year’s April allocations, or the total dollars returned to a local sales taxing entity by the state comptroller.

Only a handful of other Texas metropolitan areas—Odessa, McAllen, Dallas, Midland and Sugar Land—experienced a steeper dropoff than Austin in April. Among the 20 most populous cities in Texas, Odessa reported the sharpest decline in sales tax allocations in April, experiencing a 33.85% drop from last year, the state data shows.

Across Texas, Dallas saw the largest drop in total sales tax dollars lost year-over-year during April, according to the comptroller numbers. Dallas generated $19.4 million in sales tax allocations this past April, or $6.27 million less than it collected at this point last year.

Austin’s sales tax losses come one month after the state reported a modest decline in sales tax allocations. In March, despite the cancellation of South by Southwest Conference & Festivals and other regional events, sales tax figures dropped by only 4.46% compared to the year prior.

These new sales tax figures also come in the midst of unprecedented job loss in Central Texas. In the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan statistical area, more than 100,000 people lost their jobs between February and April as much of the economy closed down in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, according to a report by the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

The leisure and hospitality industry—which includes hotel workers, restaurants cooks and servers, caterers and more—was hit particularly hard with job losses. According to that Austin Chamber report, approximately 67,500 leisure and hospitality jobs were eliminated from February 2020 to April 2020, representing a 49% share of the total area job losses.