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Show Sales volume rose by 11.9 in Vernal last year Business volume, as measured by local sales tax receipts, rose by 11.9 percent in Vernal last year, according to a study just completed by the Utah Foundation, the private tax research organization. The report notes that this charge does not make allowance for inflation, which amounted to 6.1 percent in 1982. Gross sales volume in Vernal during 1982 totaled $230,852,000. This compares com-pares with $206,394,000 in 1981, $165,521,000 in 1980, $44,236,000 in 1975 and $16,852,000 in 1970. The report cautions, cau-tions, however, that in some of the smaller governmental units sales or use taxes on equipment purchases for one or two large projects sometimes can distort the sales tax volume information infor-mation for the entire unit. In addition, distortions can occur when a correction correc-tion Is made of revenue that was improperly im-properly reported during previous periods. Business volume, according to the report, decreased 0.9 percent in Roosevelt City and 3.6 percent in Uintah Uin-tah County compared to 1981 sales tax receipts. Daggett County business volume increased 49.5 percent and Duchesne County rose by 8.5 percent, according to the Foundation report. For the state as a whole, business activity has declined in three out of the past four years when an adjustment is made for inflation. This has followed almost a decade of strong economic growth through the 1970s. According to the study, sales volume, as measured by sales tax receipts after an adjustment for inflation, infla-tion, declined by 0.5 percent in 1979 and by 5.9 percent in 1980. Business activity activi-ty picked up slightly during 1981 with an effective gain of 3.0 percent recorded. record-ed. However, another decline of 4.3 percent was registered in 1982, reflecting reflec-ting the economic recession experienced experienc-ed in Utah and the nation last year. The below performance of the sales tax in recent years has caused problems pro-blems for the state in balancing its budget. Because of the slowdown in sales tax collections and other receipts, the state was forced to order reductions in state appropriation allocations for the year 1979-80, as well as the 1980-81 and 1982-83 fiscal years. The only recent year that such cuts were not required was 1981-82 when collections were somewhat better than expected. Foundation analysts point out that local units (cities and counties) also have been adversely affected by the slowdown in local sales tax collections during the past few years. Total sales volume in Utah during the 1982 calendar year, as measured by local sales tax receipts, exceeded $10 billion. This sum was approximately approximate-ly 1.6 percent greater than the total recorded during the previous year. The consumer price index, however, was up by 6.1 percent in 1982. Thus, effective ef-fective sales volume after the adjustment adjust-ment for inflation actually declined by 4.3 percent last year. The study emphasized that the reported sales volume figures are not confined to retail sales. In fact, the latest Tax Commission analysis shows that only about 56 percent of the sales tax comes from the retail sales of merchandise. mer-chandise. Other important contributions contribu-tions to sales tax revenues include wholesale sales 18 percent, sales of services 9 percent, utilities 9 percent per-cent and manufacturing 7 percent. |
