Sales Tax remains strong in September

Estes Park recieved the September Sales Tax Revenue Report back from the State of Colorado earlier this week. The report shows that the town’s collections in 2022 have outpaced the same months in 2021 for the fifth straight time and eighth time this year.

The town collected a total of $2,823,423 in sales tax this September, a 6.23 percent increase over the $2,657,744 collected over the same month in 2021. The continuing trend of increased collections in 2022 keeps the town on pace to break last year’s record collections.

The Restaurant industry in town experienced an increase of 9.92 percent over last Sept.
“This increase is largely due to one filer who submitted nine returns in Sept. 2022,” said Finance Director Duane Hudson. “In addition, two new businesses opened in 2022 accounting for almost $19,000 of this increase.”

On the flip side, the Groceries industry decreased by 36.53 percent.

“Much of this is due to the receipt of two returns from a 13 period filer in Sept. 2021,” said Husdon. “If this extra return is excluded, the Groceries sector increased by approximately 8.80 percent.”
The Lodging industry increased 18.17 percent over 2021’s collections with a large lodging provider reporting approx. $100,000 more in Sept. 2022 than was reported in the same month last year.

The Construction industry increased 56.71 percent over last year, but after detailed review, Hudson found two filers that had significant increases in returns filed in 2022 over 2021.
“Much of this may be attributed to increased construction activity in town and material cost increases,” Hudson said.

The taxable sales schedules reflect the taxable sales activity in the month of the actual sale, regardless of when the sales taxes were remitted. Taxable sales reported in Sept. 2022 increased ten percent over Sept. 2021.

Year-to-date taxable sales through Sept. 2022 are up seven percent over year-to-date Sept. 2021.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used to measure the cost of goods sold in the open market. Over the last 12 months ending September 2022, the CPI  for the urban Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area rose 7.7 percent.

“As a result, retailers may periodically adjust their sales prices to cover the increased costs, ultimately impacting the amount of sales tax revenue generated,” Hudson said.
The index for all items, not including food and energy, rose 7.2 percent over the year and food prices rose 11.8 percent, while energy prices increased 7.1 percent.

https://www.bls.gov/regions/mountain-plains/news-release/consumerpriceindex_denver.htm

Through the first nine months of 2022, the town has collected $17,988,132, roughly three million behind last year’s record-setting total collection of $20,930,809. In 2021, the town collected $1.92M in October, $1.29M in November, and $1.27M in December.

2021 Sales Tax collection beats old record by 28 percent