Alabama tax revenue up for first time in 4 months

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WPMI) — After four months of declining tax revenue, including two months of negative growth, July tax revenues in Alabama grew by 4.27% in July.

So far in fiscal year 2019-20, Alabama has brought in $9.28 billion in tax revenue compared to $8.90 B through July 2019, in a report released to day by the Alabama Department of Revenue.

The $380 million growth was lead mainly by the Simplified Sellers Use Tax (SSUT), which showed a 99.2% increase, fiscal year to date, bringing in just over $309 million.

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The Simplified Sellers Use Tax is a flat 8% tax collected on all sales made into Alabama when the seller does not have a physical location in the state.

The SSUT was enacted in 2017 by the State legislature to combat the drop in sales tax with the rise in online sales.

The general Sales Tax saw a modest increase of $35 Million.

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The Gas Tax, which went into effect in October 2019, brought in $102 million more, for a total so far of $463 million.

Lodgings in Alabama are still down 16.44%, bringing in almost $10 million less than last year.

May and June 2020 saw decreases in year-to-date tax revenue of 0.53% and 1.28%, respectively.