May sales tax check down for Cape, up for Jackson

Cape Girardeau pocketed $58,000 less from its May sales tax check this year than it did a year ago while the city of Jackson showed a revenue gain.

Cape Girardeau County saw a slight drop in revenue in its May check, which reflects sales made in March.

Local economist Bruce Domazlicky predicted that by year's end sales tax revenue overall will have risen only "a couple percentage points" over 2002, reflecting an economy that is still sputtering along at less than full throttle.

"The economy is just still not clicking on all cylinders," said Domazlicky, a Southeast Missouri State University economist who directs the Center for Economic and Business Research.

"We've lost quite a few jobs in the region," Domazlicky said. He estimated the 24-county region has lost 10,000 jobs over the past two years, most of that during the 2001 recession.

President Bush is pushing for federal tax cuts. But Domazlicky said that even if Congress approves a package of tax cuts, it probably will have little impact on taxpayers and retail sales this year.

Cape Girardeau's May check of $488,444 totaled over 10 percent less than a year ago, city finance director John Richbourg said.

But the city of Jackson received nearly $18,000 more in its May check this year than it did last year. The city's check totaled $109,758, an approximate 16 percent increase.

Cape Girardeau County saw its check amount drop less than 1 percent. The county received a check for $194,734, down from $196,333 a year ago.

Local retailer Joyce Hunter isn't surprised that Cape Girardeau received a smaller May check than a year ago.

She said March sales, which generated the May tax revenue, were flat.

Hunter, senior marketing director for Westfield Shoppingtown West Park, said flat sales at stores in the Cape Girardeau mall partly were due to the fact that the Easter holiday was later in April this year so Easter merchandise wasn't selling in March.

In addition, snow storms earlier this year forced area school districts to cancel or reduce spring breaks and teachers' meetings, Hunter said. That meant less leisure time for students and teachers to shop at mall stores, she said.

The war in Iraq also played a role, she surmised, suggesting that the turmoil in the Middle East left area residents uncertain about the future. "Any time you have an extraordinary event in the world it is going to affect the economy," she said.

Ups and downs

But the ups and downs of sales tax revenue bewilder local officials who say they can't explain why there's often a wide disparity in the percentage increases or decreases in the monthly checks received by Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Cape Girardeau County.

The three local governments have different tax rates. Cape Girardeau city collects 2 cents on every dollar sale from four different sales taxes. The city of Jackson collects a total of 1 1/2 cents for every dollar transaction from two sales taxes. The county has a single half-cent sales tax. Even accounting for the different tax rates, Richbourg said the percentage increases and decreases don't add up from month to month.

Both Cape Girardeau city and county are up slightly in sales tax revenue for the first five months of this year -- Cape Girardeau by $11,000 and the county by $23,713. But the city of Jackson is down slightly, a total of $26,272.

The Missouri Department of Revenue says the various tax rates account for some of the differences and declines in sales revenue in one city, for example, could be offset by gains in another.

Part of the explanation could be in the tax collection process itself, he said. If a major business is late in sending in its sales tax to the state then there is a further delay in getting the money back from the Revenue Department, Domazlicky said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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