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Sales-tax collections shows Valley growth
YOUNGSTOWN
Sales-tax collections for the region show the area is making gains economically, but the growth is modest.
Sales and use tax collections, which mirror growth in local retail sales, were up about 4 percent in Mahoning County for the first four months of 2014 compared with 2013, according to the most-recent figures available from the Ohio Department of Taxation.
With inflation at 2 percent, however, the real growth rate of 2 percent is considered “modest,” according to Dr. Tod Porter, chair of the department of economics at Youngstown State University.
“It shows that we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.
The figures are not high enough that people should be celebrating, Porter said. Really good growth rates start at about 5 percent.
“Things are getting a little better, but they can be safely called pretty modest,” he said.
Trumbull County sales and use tax collection was up 3 percent from January through April for 1 percent real growth after inflation. Columbiana County also was up by 1 percent in real growth.
Sales figures for April are more volatile. Mahoning County was up 5 percent in April 2014 compared with the previous year, Trumbull County was up 10 percent, and Columbiana County was down 3 percent.
The figures for Mahoning County are similar to the national average of 2.33 percent real growth in terms of retails sales for the first four months of the year, according to the website multpl.com, which tracks economic indicators. Trumbull and Columbiana counties are below the national average.
The site lists the best month nationally as March 1994, when retail sales increased 8.46 percent. The worst month was December 2004, when retail sales dropped 11.48 percent.
According to the National Retail Federation, retail sales are an important economic indicator due to the fact that consumer consumption and spending account for roughly 70 percent of the U.S. economy.
Nationally the first quarter was considered a poor quarter, and expectations are that the second quarter, which started in April, will see stronger retail sales.