COVID-19 takes bite out of sales tax revenue
The amount brought in during the first eight months of 2020 was down nearly 8.5% from a year earlier.
Sales tax revenue in Dutchess County was nearly 8.5% lower in the first eight months of 2020 than in the same period a year earlier, county Comptroller Robin Lois said Tuesday, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the cause.
The drop was the 12th worst in the state among the 57 counties outside of New York City, Lois said.
The comptroller said Dutchess County took in $120 million in sales tax revenue from January to August of this year. The total for the same eight months of 2019 was $131 million, she said.
“These drops are a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the mandatory closing or limitations of many businesses from March until August of 2020,” Lois said in a press release.
Sales tax revenue makes up about 41% of the Dutchess County budget and is the county’s largest single revenue stream.
The county’s $514 million budget for 2020 anticipated $211 million in sales tax revenue, a 4% increase over the amount the county received in 2019.
Because the county shares a portion of sales tax revenue with its two cities and 20 towns, those municipalities also will experience a drop. But “it remains to be seen how significantly these payments to our partners in government will be impacted by the economic downturn,” Lois said.
Across the state, only 10 counties — including Westchester, which implemented an additional 1% sales tax in August 2019 — have seen an increase in sales tax revenues this year.
In Ulster County, Finance Commissioner Burt Gulnick has said sales tax revenue from January to May of 2020 was 7.35% lower than in the comparative period a year earlier and 8.2% lower than the anticipated amount.
Sales tax revenue accounts for about 37% of Ulster County’s $342.3 million budget for 2020. The budget anticipated $128.6 million in sales tax revenue.
Lois said that as businesses begin to reopen, she anticipates sales tax revenue in Dutchess County will begin to grow again, though she said county residents must “do their part” in fighting the coronavirus by practicing social distancing and wearing masks.
“Most businesses in the state currently can operate at some capacity,” she said. “I’m hopeful that, short of a second shutdown, the worst of the sales tax hits are behind us.”