November sales tax reports are now available on the SD Department of Revenue website. [LINK]
As you may recall, it was predicted that our November total would be around an average 5.9% growth over 2020’s number of $295K. The actual amount collected was $312,017.39, just shy of the predicted $313,158.26, which equates to 5.5% growth over November 2020. This keeps Belle Fourche on a steady track to be over $400K in excess of what was collected in 2020. December is projected to be around $274K, which is a 4.9% growth over 2020. We are already $150K over the 2020 numbers without counting December Sales tax numbers.
For those who love seeing the charts and numbers, the facts are as follows:
| Month | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Jan | 305,844.46 | 268,960.01 | 247,268.29 | 254,903.88 |
| Feb | 235,018.79 | 222,098.68 | 194,138.63 | 192,809.13 |
| Mar | 231,914.55 | 210,522.65 | 187,882.10 | 184,209.32 |
| Apr | 305,768.39 | 251,333.59 | 235,577.51 | 208,514.48 |
| May | 285,026.78 | 242,969.32 | 232,287.15 | 204,535.21 |
| Jun | 317,009.34 | 280,971.82 | 245,444.49 | 250,562.08 |
| Jul | 399,494.98 | 322,314.19 | 319,498.43 | 267,325.12 |
| Aug | 364,771.90 | 324,210.85 | 306,986.12 | 272,633.22 |
| Sep | 344,787.03 | 300,515.14 | 277,376.50 | 272,175.00 |
| Oct | 329,711.72 | 294,966.35 | 267,049.01 | 250,853.99 |
| Nov | 312,017.39 | 295,711.29 | 282,490.03 | 263,517.77 |
| Dec | N/A | 261,954.09 | 237,696.57 | 238,880.19 |
| Total | 3,431,365.33 | 3,276,527.98 | 3,033,694.83 | 2,860,919.39 |
Observation:
In over 18 months into the pandemic, Belle Fourche sales tax numbers have consistently out performed their previous year’s values. And by looking at the data charted above, one can see that the margin by which 2021 out performed 2020 is a larger than the margin 2020 out performed 2019 and so on.
Question:
Now as in true City of Belle Fourche finance officer fashion, some might say, “this is all because people are shopping online more“.
Let’s just see…
Also available on the SD Department of Revenue website is a beautiful set of reports that give us the sales tax collected from “Remote Sellers” by municipality. [LINK AGAIN]
For your convenience, those numbers have been tallied here compared with (1) Total Sales Tax Collected in Belle Fourche, (2) Just the Retail Sales Segment of that for Belle Fourche and (3) Our estimate that of those retail segments, those who have online competitors. Also of note, sales tax collected is broken down by business segments in South Dakota, these segments are:
- Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services
- Wholesale Trade
- Retail Trade
- Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
- Services
- Other
Within the Retail Trade segment, there are the following groupings:
- (52) Building Materials, Hardware, Garden Supply and Mobile Home Dealers
- (53) General Merchandise Stores
- (54) Food Stores
- (55) Automotive Dealers and Gasoline Service Stations
- (56) Apparel and Accessory Stores
- (57) Home Furniture, Furnishings and Equipment Stores
- (58) Eating and Drinking Places
- (59) Miscellaneous Retail
What the data shows is that overall 3 Major Statistics:
- Remote sales tax collected ranges from 4.6 to 7.6% of all sales & use tax collected
- Remote sales tax collected ranges from 7.0 to 12.34% of all retail sales & use tax collected
- Remote sales tax collected ranges from 21.89 to 37.30% of all retails sales & use tax collected in groups (53, 56, 57 & 59). These segments are those that are anticipated to have online competitors.
| Date | Remote Sellers | (1) All | % Remote to All | (2) Retail Only | % Remote to Retail | (3) Retail with Online Competitors | % Remote to Retail with Online Competitors |
| Jan-21 | $16,965 | 268,960.01 | 6.30% | 188318.19 | 9.01% | 77,511.03 | 21.89% |
| Feb-21 | $14,753 | 235,018.79 | 6.30% | 154,792.92 | 9.53% | 53,979.91 | 27.33% |
| Mar-21 | $17,668 | 231,914.55 | 7.60% | 143146.20 | 12.34% | 49,174.73 | 35.93% |
| Apr-21 | $20,550 | 305,768.39 | 6.70% | 188213.47 | 10.92% | 67,577.50 | 30.41% |
| May-21 | $17,505 | 285,026.78 | 6.10% | 189971.31 | 9.21% | 64,614.54 | 27.09% |
| Jun-21 | $17,309 | 317,009.34 | 5.50% | 210273.73 | 8.23% | 71,398.60 | 24.24% |
| Jul-21 | $20,089 | 399,494.98 | 5.00% | 233402.32 | 8.61% | 83,828.58 | 23.96% |
| Aug-21 | $16,696 | 364,771.90 | 4.60% | 238395.36 | 7.00% | 73,074.97 | 22.85% |
| Sep-21 | $23,694 | 344,787.03 | 6.90% | 220303.37 | 10.76% | 66,050.37 | 35.87% |
| Oct-21 | $24,587 | 329,711.72 | 7.50% | 207860.02 | 11.83% | 65,913.09 | 37.30% |
| Nov-21 | $19,270 | 312,017.39 | 6.20% | 205004.38 | 9.40% | 65,885.86 | 29.25% |
What conclusions do you draw from the numbers above?
I have many thoughts about what to conclude. But, I’d like to hear what your thoughts are. Please comment. Keep it cordial & clean.