Retail sales in Cape Girardeau County appear to be stronger than ever, if the county's sale tax receipts are any indication.

Last week, Cape County Treasurer Roger Hudson reported April sales tax revenue (mostly reflecting sales tax collected by the state in March) of $626,890.46, bringing the county's sales tax revenue so far this year to $2,626,762.56. That's almost 0.4% more than the sales tax received by the county by this time in 2020, which would eventually become a record year for the county's sales tax, with nearly $7.8 million generated.

Meanwhile, the county's use tax on out-of-state and online commerce continues to make up a growing percentage of the county's monthly revenue. According to Hudson's monthly use tax spreadsheet, Cape County's 1.5% use-tax revenue in April was $211,827.95. In the first four months of 2021, the use tax has already topped $1 million ($1,031,856.82) and is more than halfway toward topping last year's use-tax record of about $1.8 million.