June 21, 2021

There needs to be an asterisk next to these sales tax results – but they’re strong regardless.

Revenue from sales tax in Sioux Falls increased 34.6 percent in May, which are collections from April sales, compared with the same time last year.

For the 12-month period, it’s up 4.8 percent.

“Our figures our going to be based on a comparison to last year, and it’s going to be very difficult to compare ourselves to last year” because of the pandemic, said Shawn Pritchett, the city’s finance director.

“It’s hard to gauge what that really means.”

Compared with the same time in 2019, sales tax revenue still was up 13 percent.

“That’s a pretty good figure overall,” Pritchett said. “Not as robust as we were last month but still a very solid figure. We were negative in sales taxes for a good portion of last year, so you should hopefully continue to see that growth go into the next several months.”

The city continues “to see really strong retail activity, and we’re looking at this compared to 2019 because you can’t compare the last year,” Pritchett said. “Manufacturing came through in a big way.”

Overall, there’s strength across core areas of the economy, with some softness in wholesale in the past month, he said.

Here’s how it breaks down by sector compared with 2019, where the growth in online retail is apparent but so is the growth for department stores, lumber, hardware and garden supplies.

The entertainment tax also posted a huge gain, up 125 percent year-over-year in May and down 2.3 percent for the past 12 months.

Compared with 2019, it was up 18.6 percent.

“So again, a pretty solid figure when you’re looking at a comparative basis to a more normal year,” Pritchett said. “Restaurants continue to perform very well, lodging saw their first positive month since the pandemic … drinking establishments were also strong … all of that is leading to strong growth within that entertainment sector.”