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Victoria Sales Taxes Show More Spending

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 21:00 CST

By Thomas Doyle, Victoria Advocate, Texas

Feb. 14--The numbers confirm it. Shoppers gave Victoria merchants a better Christmas in 2005 than the year prior.

December spending in the Victoria economy increased by $9.47 million or 7.7 percent, compared to December 2004, based on February sales taxes returned to local governments.

The data includes sales taxes from smaller businesses that only pay quarterly or annually, the state comptroller's office noted, but such filers make up a small percentage of the overall sales taxes paid to the state.

Since data from December 2004 also contained such payers, the data still serves as a decent indicator of the overall strength of the Victoria economy in December, said economist Ray Perryman of the Waco-based Perryman Group.

Perryman described the 7.7 percent growth rate in December as "very healthy."

Businesses in Victoria reported similar or better sales results for December.

"Actually, we saw a tremendous increase. We were up better than 20 percent," said Jeff Williams, co-owner of the Bible Book Store in Victoria. A more normal increase for Christian retailers would be from flat sales to a 2 percent growth, he said.

Williams credited the improved sales to a stronger economy and effective marketing efforts that included mailing out some 11,000 catalogs.

Foster Creek Station, a Victoria boutique, noted sales increases of around 10 percent over December 2004, said co-owner Joyce Foster.

"December was very good," she said, adding all the increased traffic almost brought about the end of the sales staff.

Word of mouth advertising in the form of women telling the men in their lives where to shop and what to buy probably accounted for a great deal of the increased spending, she said. She noted that the store saw an increase of male shoppers in December.

National retailer Target saw sales growth similar to that indicated by the sales tax numbers, said Mike Yokum, store team leader.

"It was strong," he said.

Sales taxes returned to local governments in February reflects primarily sales made in December, paid to the state in January, and returned to local governments in February. The data also contains collections from firms that file quarterly or annually, the comptroller's office said.

Spending in November and December together was up by 10 percent over a year prior, based on the data.

In raw numbers, the city of Victoria and the Victoria Sales Tax Development Corp. received $1,955,130 in February, up 7.27 percent, or $132,536, over February of 2005. So far this year the city has received $3,288,140, up 9.48 percent, or $284,762 from the first two months of 2005.

In raw numbers, Victoria County received $695,533 this month, up 8.91 percent, or $56,927, over February of 2005. So far this year the county has received $1,178,680, up 11.56 percent, or $122,199 over the first two months of 2005.

The city of Victoria levies a 1-cent-per-dollar sales tax, while the Victoria Sales Tax Development Corp. levies a half-cent tax. Victoria County also levies a half-cent tax.

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To see more of Victoria Advocate, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, Victoria Advocate, Texas

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Source: Victoria Advocate, Victoria, Texas

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