Texas sales tax collections in January fell 14.2 percent over the same month last year, the 12th-consecutive month of sales tax declines.

Texas' sales tax continues steep slide

By Kate Alexander

Texas' sales tax collections in January fell 14.2 percent over the same month last year, the 12th-consecutive month of sales tax declines, Comptroller Susan Combs reported Friday.

The state's sales tax generated $1.66 billion on sales in December.

"We will continue to closely monitor sales tax revenue, and although we expect further collection declines in the near term, it is anticipated the rate of decline will moderate and then return to revenue growth sometime in the second quarter of 2010," Combs said in the news release.

Combs also noted that January 2009 was the third-highest collection month in state history.

Sales tax revenue comprise more than half of the state's general operating budget and is an important indicator of the state's fiscal health.

For the fiscal year so far, the state's collection's are almost $1.3 billion behind where they were last year. The 2010-11 budget projected a small increase in sales tax revenue this year.

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