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Show Utab Foundation Reports ...... Local Sales Tax Revenues Increase by Almost 25 Sales volume rose by 25.4 percent in Park City last year. Business volume, as measured mea-sured by local sales tax receipts, rose by 25.4 percent in Park City last year, according to a study just completed by 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 Park City during 1982 totaled $87,914,000. This compares with $70,093,000 in 1981, $58,294,000. in 1980, $16,008,000 in 1975, and $3,927,000 in 1970. The report cautions, 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 volume information for the entire unit. In addition, distortions can occur when a correction is made of revenue that was improperly reported during previous periods. For the state as a whole, business activity has declined declin-ed in three out of the past four years when an adjustment adjust-ment 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, declined by .05 percent in 1979 and by 5.9 percent in 1980. Business activity picked up slightly during 1981 with an effective gain of 3.0 percent recorded. However, another decline of 4.3 percent was registered in 1982, reflecting the economic recession experienced exper-ienced in Utah and the nation last year. The below par performance of the sales tax in recent years has caused problems for the state in balancing ins budget. Because of the slowdown in sales tax collections collec-tions and other receipts, the state was forced to order reductions in state appropriation appro-priation 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 : v few years. |