Published: May 12, 2008 12:25 pm            

Annual sales tax in city dips, but still best in area

Although Effingham’s sales tax revenues took a slight dip in the last year, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the city is still by far ahead of area cities of similar size in raking in those revenues.

Effingham’s sales tax revenues decreased slightly in 2007, down .76 percent from 2006.

The Illinois Department of Revenue reported total municipal sales tax receipts of more than $6.32 million for Effingham in 2007, compared to more than $6.37 million in 2006.

The largest drop was a $183,471.03 decrease in automotive and filling station revenues from $2,405,269.21 in 2006 to $2,221,798.18 in 2007.

“I think there’s a couple of reasons for that. Obviously, gas prices play into that, but I think another key factor, with Illinois being a pretty narrow state from east to west, that people may go through Illinois without stopping for gas, particularly the long-haul truckers, which are a big part of our traffic,” said Norma Lansing, president of the Greater Effingham Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Even though Effingham took a hit in gas sales taxes, the city still had the largest sales tax revenue in the area.

The Illinois Department of Revenue reported total municipal tax revenues for the 2007 calendar year of $4,198,631.26 for Mattoon, $2,075,928.70 for Charleston, $1,047,110.05 for Tuscola, $4,967,206.93 for Mount Vernon and $1,982,723.23 for Salem.

“We certainly have the highest retail sales around the area, and you look at what’s coming: Hodgson Mills, Wright’s and FedEx and what the Rosebud is doing. I think we’ll see some of those areas change significantly in 2008. I think in the scheme of $6 million-plus in sales, that $40,000 is not something that we need to be overly concerned about,” Lansing said.

Sales in drugs and miscellaneous retail, which encompasses a large variety of retail purchases from book stores to liquor stores, increased by about 12.8 percent.

Sales tax revenues in general merchandise, food, drinking and eating places, lumber, building and hardware also were on the rise, while the tax figures in agriculture, apparel, manufacturers, furniture and radio decreased slightly from 2006 to 2007.

Effingham Economic Development Director Todd Hull also wasn’t concerned with the slight decrease in sales tax revenues. From the city’s perspective, Effingham’s sales tax revenues didn’t go down at all; they actually increased slightly.

“Technically it didn’t go down by tracking it the way we do. It was up $30,000 over last year. We keep track of it (sales tax revenues) by the city’s fiscal year, which runs from May to April,” Hull said.

The Illinois Department of Revenue tracks the tax figures by calendar years.

“For 2006-07, they (sales tax revenues) actually went up a little bit. But if you track it by different months, it would be different. We have tracked it every year since the 1986-87 fiscal year, and the total sales tax has gone up every year since then,” Hull said.

To view tax revenue figures in Illinois, visit http://tax.illinois.gov/app/kob/index.jsp.

Angie Faller can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 131 or angie.faller@

effinghamdailynews.com.