Sales Tax returns for October
Hawkins sales tax down
Wood County up 8.39%
By JOHN SPARKS

 

Hawkins sales tax returns continue on their yo-yo pace with a drop of 18.3 percent in October compared with the same month a year ago. However, for the year sales tax revenue for the city is still ahead of the year ago pace by 7.53 percent.

 
Overall year-to-year Wood County sales tax returns are up by 8.39 of the county percent after another strong month of returns for October. Sales tax returns for merchants in unincorporated areas of the county, including merchants at Holly Lake, were up slightly with a 1.62 percentage gain in October and a 7.42 gain for the year to date.
 

The sales tax funds are collected by local merchants, sent to the Texas Comptroller along with the state’s six and-a-quarter cents tax on each dollar of retail purchase. Hawkins’ local portion—one-and-one-half cents/dollar—is then returned two months later (August collections returned in October). Merchants in the unincorporated county areas collect a half-cent sales tax on each dollar sale.
 

Hawkins returns were $15,125.54 for August 2007 compared with $18,514.57 in the same month last year. These funds are distributed to the two budgets supported by the sales tax, with approximately $10,083.69 deposited into the city’s general fund and the remaining $5,041.85, representing a half-cent sales tax, into the Hawkins Community Development Corporation budget.
 

Comparative figures for sales tax returns for the month of October (as collected in August) for each city and the county follow with commentary furnished by Gary McKinley, executive director of the Wood County Industrial Commission: