economy:

County’s taxable sales tumble 19.6 percent in February

Thursday, April 30, 2009 | 12:21 p.m.

CARSON CITY – Taxable sales fell 19.6 percent in Clark County in February with car sales and building materials taking a big plunge.

Statewide, taxable sales dropped 18.9 percent. The report comes one day before the Economic Forum is to make its predictions of how much the state will collect in taxes in the next two months and in the coming two fiscal years.

“It’s the worst I have ever seen,” says Dino DiCianno, director of the state Department of Taxation and an employee of the agency for 26 years.

The department reported the sales and use tax yielded $220.4 million in February, an 18.1 percent decrease compared to the same month of 2008. And the collections for the first eight months of this fiscal year are down 10.4 percent.

Taxable sales in Clark County in February totaled $2.2 billion, down from $2.7 billion in the same month in 2008. And it was the sixth straight month of lower taxable sales in Clark County.

The department reported that Clark County auto sales fell 42.9 percent compared to February 2008. And it was the seventh consecutive month that car sales have recorded a double-digit drop.

Gov. Jim Gibbons said the report “illustrates the ongoing weakness of the state and national economy. I remain hopeful the Legislature will enact a spending plan that is based on our existing revenue streams.”

Sale of building materials in Clark County fell 25.1 percent, the fourth consecutive month of a double-digit drop. The department said furniture sales plummeted 29 percent in February, the third straight month of a double-digit drop.

Business in the bars and restaurants in Clark County dropped 8.7 percent, the 16th straight month of a decline in this category. The department said sales of clothes declined by 12.6 percent in February and general merchandise business was off 9.8 percent.

Fifteen of the 17 counties recorded decreases. Taxable sales in Washoe County were down 18.4 percent and they were off by 25.8 percent in Carson City.

The two counties that show increases were Churchill, up by 18.8 percent ,and Lander by 7.3 percent.

The department said statewide that construction fell 40 percent in February compared to the same month of 2008; auto sales were down 43.1 percent; furniture sales were off 30.4 percent; food and drinking places declined 9.9 percent and clothing stores were off 13 percent.

The report said some of the largest increases in statewide taxable sales were in utilities, up 98.7 percent; support activities for mining were up 221.5 percent and ambulatory health care services were up 331.4 percent.