Both Baxter County and the City of Mountain Home enjoyed eye-popping sales tax numbers for May, reports from county and city officials indicate.Baxter County collected a total of $837,987 from its 1% sales tax for the month of May, keeping 58% percent of that revenue and distributing the rest among the county’s nine cities based on their population.
According to figures released by County Treasurer Jenay Mize, Baxter County’s portion of that sales tax was $483,962. That is a 27.3% increase of $103,756 in sales tax revenue compared to the May 2020 collection of $380,206.
Mountain Home Treasurer Marshella Norell reports that the city collected $574,013 in May revenue from its own 1% sales tax. That is a 25.4% increase of $116,369 from its May 2020 sales tax collection of $457,644.
Both the city’s and county’s May numbers are one-month records for sales tax collections.
Sales tax distributions are made two months after sales taxes are collected by area businesses. May’s numbers reflect area spending from March.
In an email accompanying the city’s May sales tax report, Norell notes that March 17 was when the first round of the latest stimulus checks from the federal government were released. That stimulus paid out $1,400 per taxpayer plus another $1,400 for each dependent for all qualifying taxpayers. Qualified taxpayers were those that made less than $80,000 for single individuals and $160,000 for married couples filing jointly.
Mize says that she suspects stimulus checks had a lot to do with the record-setting numbers, along with something else.
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Mountain Home also received $251,277 in May revenue from the county’s 1% sales tax. Other Baxter County cities receiving revenue from the county’s 1% sales tax include:
– Gassville, which received $41,947;
– Cotter, which received $19,581;
– Lakeview, which received $14,958;
– Norfork, which received $10,315;
– Salesville, which received $9,084;
– Briarcliff, which received $4,764; and
– Big Flat, which received $2,099.
Mountain Homes 2021 sales tax revenues have bested last year’s numbers every month so far this year. Over the first five months of the year, Mountain Home has collected $2,412,500 from its 1% sales tax, an increase of 11.7% percent compared to the same time last year.
Baxter County’s 2021 sales tax revenues have likewise bested last year’s numbers every month this year. For the year, the county’s portion of its 1% percent sales tax total $1,996,383, an increase of 11.9% compared to last year’s figures.
Mize said she was optimistic that the county’s strong sales tax revenues would continue through the second half of the year.
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Baxter County received $209,497 in May revenue from its 0.25% sales tax for maintenance and operations of the Baxter County Detention Center. For the year, it has received $607,968 from that sales tax, an increase of 7.7% compared to this time last year.
Mountain Home received $215,255 in May from its 0.375% sales tax to support its police and fire departments. To date it has received $904,685 from that sales tax, an increase of 12.7% increase over 2020’s numbers.
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