“When the pandemic hit, it seemed like we were going to hit a 20% to 30% decrease in sales tax,” Rosenquest told NCPR.
Sales tax revenues did decline by double-digit margins in the early months of the pandemic, but ultimately the decline was not as severe as expected.
“At the end of the day we hit like a 3% decrease in sales tax,” Rosenquest noted. “So we brought in a little bit more than we expected too.”
Now the recovery from that recession appears to be gaining momentum.
March tax data shows an increase in local spending even larger than last year’s decline on a month-over-month basis.