Sales Tax returns for December
2007 sales tax returns up 11.64% for Hawkins
By JOHN SPARKS

 

All’s well than ends well. The Hawkins sales tax experience in 2007 was one of ups and downs. In the end, after 12 months of erratic returns, Hawkins saw sales tax returns increase by nearly 12 percent, $225,023.95 in 2007 compared with $201,553.86 for 2006. The December returns, announced last week by the Texas Comptroller, were up by 20.16 percent over the comparable month in 2006 ($17,558.70 vs. $14,612.02).

Five of the six cities in Wood County also reported gains in year-to-year sales tax returns. Only Yantis failed to top 2006 sales tax returns, and then by just 1.5 percent. County-wide collections finished the year 8.75 percent higher than in 2006, while businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county saw a 7.65 percent increase year-to-year.
 

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 (October collections returned in December). Merchants in the unincorporated county areas collect a half-cent sales tax on each dollar sale.
 

Hawkins returns of $17.558.70 for December are distributed to the two budgets supported by the sales tax, with approximately $11,705.80 deposited into the city’s general fund and the remaining $5,852.90, representing a half-cent sales tax, into the Hawkins Community Development Corporation budget.
 

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