County’s taxable sales fall by 17 percent in April

Friday, June 26, 2009 | 4:53 p.m.

Sun business and economy coverage

CARSON CITY – Taxable sales in Clark County fell by 17.1 percent in April, the eighth straight month of a decline. There were $2.4 billion in sales, down from the $2.9 billion of April 2008.

Furniture sales in Clark County slumped by nearly 50 percent and the car sales business was off 32.8 percent.

The state Department of Taxation reported statewide taxable sales fell to $3.2 billion, off 17.9 percent. Business was off in 14 of the 17 counties. Only Esmeralda, Lander and Mineral Counties recorded gains for the month.

The report mirrors other indicators of the down economy. Gov. Jim Gibbons said the report “once again reflects the economic downturn.

“The lingering effects of the slow housing market, volatility in the stock market and overall sluggish economy are prevalent in our state and revenue collections continue to decline accordingly,” the governor said.

He said he would continue efforts to stop the decline in business activity and added, “We must work to prepare Nevada for the economic recovery that will eventually come.”

The furniture business has been hard hit in Clark County. Sales fell 49.2 percent in April, which comes after a 42 percent decline in March. For 10 months this fiscal year, the 429 furniture stores have posted taxable sales of $438.6 million, down 33 percent.

Auto sales are also taking a beating. For this fiscal year, taxable sales totaled $2.1 billion, down 29.9 percent at the 615 business locations. For this year so far, car sales slumped 26.8 percent in January, 42.9 percent in February, 39.1 percent in March and 32.8 percent in April in Clark County.

The sales of building materials also continued to slow, down 26.8 percent in April. This segment of the economy hasn’t shown positive signs since September.

The department reported general merchandise sales in Clark County fell 7.4 percent compared to April 2008; clothing stores were off 9.8 percent and the 2,628 bars and restaurants dropped 5.9 percent.

While Clark County business was suffering, Washoe County and Carson City were taking bigger hits. Taxable sales in Washoe County fell by 32.2 percent, the biggest decline this year. Last month they were down by 27.4 percent.

Carson City business was off 27.4 percent, even with the Nevada Legislature in session. This comes after a report that taxable sales in March declined 26.5 percent from the same month of 2008.

The department said it collected $240.6 million from the sales tax, a decline of 16.5 percent from April 2008. And this represents an 11.6 percent decrease for the 10 months of this fiscal year.

Discussion: 9 comments so far…

By Teaser

6/26/09 at 5:22 p.m.

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Economic recovery should be starting NOW. Specifically, we ELECT and PAY these "leaders" to take care of matters. And if they are so incompetent that they cannot move this state beyond its 1950s mentality - if they cannot see beyond just the gaming industry - then why are they in office? They should be actively working to bring in any number of new industries and revenue sources. Anybody can cut budgets and make pronouncements. We need actual leaders who will DO something.
By stevem

6/26/09 at 6:30 p.m.

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hmmmm....

interesting that yesterday they just announced a "we're gonna GET you" program if you don't register your car by issuing a $1,000 fine and today they announce taxable sales are down...

hmmmm...coincidence?

i think not.

i also like the "recovery that will eventually come" line.

are "recovery fairies" going to come by and drop $10,000 in everyone's pocket?

how are you "preparing nevada"?

by harassing newcomers that don't register their cars? by increasing room taxes to scare even more tourists away? by NOT seeking out companies to move here and bring jobs?

i guess we'll just spend more money on commercials featuring bumpkins from texas saying "vegas, baby" because we all know that really brought people into town.

our "vegas is recession proof" arrogance is the reason this town is going under, little by little, day by day.
By MysterMr

6/26/09 at 7:25 p.m.

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Sorry - ain't gonna happen. Assemblyman "Tick" Segerblom just said in the paper to the thousands of businesses leaving Nevada, "we don't need those kinds of businesses anyway". I guess the "Tick" knows something we don't.

Why are these companies leaving the state? Oh, because of Barbara Buckley, John Oceguera, and Steven Horsford's doubling of the business license fee for non-resident businesses which is driving 10's of thousands - yes I said 10's of thousands of businesses out of the state in the next 24 months.

The real shockwave will come when... all of the officers and shareholders of those businesses (many of whom are Nevada's most affluent visitors) fail to come to the state for their annual meeting since they have moved their business entities to Wyoming.

Over the next 10 years, the loss in corporate filing fees will be over 1 BILLION. The losses to the Nevada economy in business tourism revenue (over the next 10 years) will be in the BILLIONS. And this was for a tax that is projected to generate $61m a year - but that in actuality won't generate squat close to that!

Thousands of businesses emailed and phoned the legislature and told them they would take their business and tourism dollars elsewhere and the legislature responded with a resounding "I don't give a damn!"

Currently there are approximately 302,000 businesses registered with the Nevada Secretary of State. Check this number again in 24 months. End of argument.

So all of you that lose your jobs in the next 24 months. All of you with businesses that cater to tourists - or even to locals that will not be realizing any of that revenue, remember Segerblom, Buckley, Oceguera, and Horsford in the next election because they are as directly to blame as you can get. Even if there is a national recovery, Nevada doesn't stand a chance now. Thanks guys!
By bdover

6/26/09 at 7:31 p.m.

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This is actually good news because it will force Clark County to stop building more Taj Mahal schools for their 10th grade dropouts. It will force Henderson to reduce their huge force of police loafers, and kick Richard Perkins to the curb. The one concern is that it seems violence is increasing in North Las Vegas, so we taxpayers may need to pay for a fence, similar to the one on the Arizona border, to safeguard people in our Southern Valley.
By UNLVStud

6/26/09 at 9:55 p.m.

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Our economy will continue to suffer until we are able to attract a diverse business base to the State. That will not, however, happen until the education systems in this State break out of the BOTTOM of the list.
By neiman1

6/26/09 at 10:18 p.m.

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Can't we just raise taxes some more. That always helps. Thank you harry Reid, nancy Pelosi, and your fearless leader, THE ONE. Now our fuel and electricity bills will rise, but it's OK because we are saving the planet.
By Narcissa

6/27/09 at 12:55 a.m.

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Oh, please, just raise taxes even more! That always works to stimulate business and spending, right? After all, unlike the fiscally responsible government, we citizens can just pay for items with cash we no longer have because the government confiscated it.

Thank God Titus and Berkley voted for the Cap and Trade bill, though! I can't wait to see an 80% increase in my utility bill, which is basically intended to strong arm citizens into using less energy, so we can all be less dependent on the Arabs.

Such a shame that as a result of the dictates of our Kenyan Overlord, Americans will now have to resort to living like Korean peasants, but since the US contains zero oil and coal reserves that we could drill, I can certainly understand his reasoning. I'm sure it has nothing at all with wanting to control us and keep us dependent on the government.
By mcmc_john

6/27/09 at 7:54 a.m.

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MysterMan

Wow .. you need to relax, you sound like a subcontractor who could not get the legislators to screw homeowners the way that your industry has done for ten years.

You brought in illegal workers; Which took good paying jobs out of the economy

You failed to train these workers and now want the politicians to give you the right to walk away from defects on the home.

You failed to provide them with insurance and so they used tax dollars for their health care

You paid them migrant workers wages and wonder why our taxable dollars have dropped.

You have now laid them off and they are collecting tax revenues through unemployment, while basking in the summer winds in Mexico.. so even those tax dollars have gone south.

You and your builder friends have screwed up this economy and now point the fingers at those who are trying to fix it without letting all of you screw the public once again ...

Now pack up and moved to Montana and the rest of us will send you the report in 24 months. All the time feeling safe from businesses like yours leaving this state...

And last but not least when you say "End of Argument" .... you should not go on and on and on....
By tbvegas

6/27/09 at 10:30 a.m.

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Whatever they are loosing in sales taxes are more than made up in the real property transfer taxes. Funny how they don't spill them numbers because they are way up. They got a big transfer tax on every property that was sold in the past few years, the bank have to pays the transfer tax again to foreclose and they get the transfer tax again as the banks unload them.

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