Northern Nevada merchants saw modest increases in business in July as taxable sales rose over the same month in 2016, according to a report from the state Department of Taxation.
Across Washoe County, July sales rose by 5.3 percent over the year, with the Reno-Sparks region’s biggest generators showing increases, including:
Vehicles and vehicle parts: up 1.5 percent.
Restaurants and bars: up 4.5 percent.
Merchant wholesalers: up 0.5 percent.
Building materials: up 9.9 percent.
General merchandise stores: up 4.9 percent.
Across Carson City, July taxable sales rose 8.7 percent over the year, with the region’s biggest generators showing increases, including:
Vehicle and vehicle parts: up 19.9 percent.
General merchandise stores: up 2.2 percent.
Restaurants and bars: up 8 percent.
Building materials: up 8.2 percent.
Merchant wholesalers: up 29.7 percent.
Across Douglas County, July taxable sales rose 10 percent over the year, with the region’s biggest generators showing mixed results, including:
Merchant wholesalers: down 7.4 percent.
Vehicles and vehicle parts: down 22.2 percent.
Building materials: up 23.9 percent.
General merchandise stores: up 6.8 percent.
Restaurants and bars: down 1.4 percent.
The key growth sectors for the statewide total of $4.7 billion in taxable sales were machine manufacturing, up 72.1 percent; restaurants/bars, up 7.2 percent; autos and auto sales, up 4.4 percent; and construction-related business, up 5.2 percent. Even with the July increases, the state General Fund portion of the sales tax is 3.77 percent, or $3.56 million, below the Economic Forum’s May forecast for the current fiscal 2018 year that will end next June 30, 2018.
