The recent fiscal year ended with sales taxes collected coming in at a better-than-expected pace for a sixth consecutive month, local tax officials said. (mgnonline.com)
Taxable sales up for Calcasieu Parish
Last Modified: Friday, July 13, 2012 11:06 AM
By Johnathan Manning / American Press
The recent fiscal year ended with sales taxes collected coming in at a better-than-expected pace for a sixth consecutive month, local tax officials said.
The $5.4 million collected was $745,000 — that’s 16 percent — more than budgeted and was $420,000 more than was collected in June 2010, according to numbers released by the Calcasieu Parish Sales Tax Office.
Budgeted numbers are set conservatively, based on several factors, including past sales tax numbers, Rufus Fruge, director of the office, said.
“We weren’t doing that well back then so the (budgeted) numbers reflected that,” he said. “Of course, this year we’ve been very blessed. It seems like in the past six months we’ve been realizing some steady increases.”
Sales taxes were higher than budgeted in all but one of the tax office’s 13 categories, often making double-digit percentage leaps. Utilities was the largest, coming in 106 percent more than budget. Taxes collected for miscellaneous services were 5 percent less than expected.
Taxable sales for the fiscal year completed in June show a 10.5 percent increase over the previous year.
A total of $4.4 billion in taxable sales was reported in Calcasieu Parish in fiscal year 2011-12, up $420 million from fiscal year 2010-11. Total taxes collected, including hotel and motel, were $232 million in 2011-12, up from $207 million in 2010-11, Fruge said.
“That’s some good numbers,” he said. “It’s a continued reflection of how healthy our economy is.”
Fruge said in June that the increased numbers could be attributed to spending in the local manufacturing sector. “That’s still the story,” he said Wednesday.
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