The Missouri Department of Revenue said the City of Houston and Texas County both saw an increase in sales tax revenue in 2007, according to a year-end report.
Revenue from a one-cent sales tax in Houston totaled $626,190, an increase of $9,788 from a year ago or about 1.6 percent. Merchants also collect two quarter-cent sales taxes for street and sidewalks, as well as utility work. Each totaled about $151,696 – up more than $2,100 from the year-ago period.
Collections from an eighth-cent sales tax totaled $75,582 for the year for repayment on the city’s newest fire truck.
Texas County revenue from a half-cent sales tax totaled $948,967 for the year. That’s an increase of $45,597 from a year ago or about 5 percent. Collections from two half-cent sales taxes earmarked for payment of bonds for the county justice center and general operations generated a nearly identical amount each.
The reports are considered a good barometer of economic activity. Some merchants remit sales tax monies to the state monthly and others quarterly.