Counties? Tax Production Up

(Click here to see the list of county tax collections.)

Northwest Arkansas’ six-county area produced $134.7 million (21.8 percent) of the $616.8 million in state sales and use taxes collected from all 75 counties in Arkansas last year. The total $1.53 billion collected includes additional taxes that are not attributed to a specific county (see list, p. 15).

The six-county area includes Washington, Benton, Sebastian, Carroll, Crawford and Madison counties.

The state sales and use tax figures are based on the state’s 5.125 percent state sales tax from 2003. That rate grew to 6 percent as of March 1. The state sales tax and use figures do not include individual county and city taxes, although county taxes are reflected separately in the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s 2004 county taxes list.

The state sales and use taxes go into the state’s general fund.

Washington, Benton and Sebastian counties ranked second through fourth overall with $47.3 million, $35.1 million and $32.2 million collected, respectively. The same three counties held the same spots for average annual employment with 87,575, 80,525 and 56,775 workers, respectively.

Regardless of the size of the working public, the sheer overall population growth locally is probably a “given” contributor to the tax receipt growth. Jeff Hawkins, regional planner at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said 57 percent of the state’s population growth statewide since the 2000 Census occurred in Benton and Washington counties.

Madison County was the only local entity not in the Top 20. It ranked No. 53 with $2.2 million. Nearby Boone County to the east, where Harrison is the county seat, was also in the Top 20 with $7.5 million in rounded collections.

NWA Tax Till

Northwest Arkansas’ six-county area produced three of the Top 10 counties for state sales and use taxes in 2003:

State Rank — County — 2003 Total State Sales & Use Taxes*

2 — Washington — $47.3
3 — Benton — $35.1
4 — Sebastian — $32.2
14 — Carroll — $10.5
17 — Crawford — $7.5
53 — Madison — $2.2
Total — $134.7

*In millions and rounded to nearest hundred thousand.

Sources: Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration and Arkansas Employment Security Department