Online sales taxes boost Craighead County, Jonesboro collections
by February 25, 2020 4:23 pm 789 views
Money continues to pour into Craighead County’s and the city of Jonesboro’s coffers if sales and use tax collections are an indicator.
The county set its all-time collections record in February, according to the Craighead County Treasurer’s Department. Jonesboro narrowly missed tying its all-time collections record for a month, according to data released by the city.
Craighead County collected $2.164 million for the month, a $22,000 (0.5%) increase as compared to February 2019, the last time the record was set. It’s only the third time the county has topped $2 million in collections in a month, according to figures dating back to 2013.
County year-to-date collections totaled $4.052 million, a 1.36% uptick from the first two months of last year.
Jonesboro collected $1.947 million during the month, $5,600 (0.3%) less than the same month in 2019, which was the all-time record for one month in the city. For the year, the city has collected $3.638 million, a 3.4% upswing from the first two months of 2019. The figure is outpacing the projected budget by 2%.
Mayor Harold Perrin had warned three years ago that sales tax collections would drop dramatically if online sales tax wasn’t collected, and the latest numbers released by the city support his concerns.
In Craighead County, $73,105 in e-commerce sales tax was collected, a 147% ($43,468) increase as compared to the same month in 2019. Jonesboro collected $57,461, a 146% ($34,126) uptick during the same timeframe.
Sales and use tax collections have a 60-day lag time, meaning the numbers in February represent taxes collected on sales in November. Jonesboro serves as a recreational, retail, and healthcare hub in NEA drawing consumers from many outlying counties.