Local Government Snapshot

N E W YO R K S TAT E O F F I C E O F T H E S TAT E CO M P T R O L L E R
Thomas P. DiNapoli State Comptroller

February 2015

Local Sales Tax Collection Growth Slows to 3 Percent in 2014;

Slowest Growth Since 2009
Statewide Trends
Total local sales tax collections in New York State grew by $439 million, or 3.0 percent, from 2013 to 2014.1
This was less than the 2012 to 2013 growth of 5.2 percent, and the slowest annual growth since the end of
the 2008-09 recession.
About 69 percent of the dollar growth in local
sales tax collections took place in New York
City. The Citys sales tax collections grew by
$304 million, or 4.8 percent from 2013 to 2014.
Although this was less than the 6.8 percent
growth seen in 2013, it continued the pattern of
strong sales tax performance in the City since
the end of the recession.
The increase in county sales tax collections,
excluding all cities, was 1.3 percent from 2013
to 2014 significantly lower than the 3.8 percent
growth experienced from 2012 to 2013.

Percentage Change in Total Local Sales Tax Collections

12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
-6%
-8%

9.9%
5.2%

Average Annual
Increase
1999 to 2014:
4.2%

3.0%

Recessions

-6.0%

Source: Department of Taxation and Finance; additional calculations by the Office of the State
Comptroller. Numbers not adjusted for tax rate or tax law changes. Includes New York City.

Importance of Local Sales Tax Revenue

The sales tax is a major revenue source for New
York City and the 57 counties outside of the
City, which collectively receive 92 percent of all
local sales tax collections.2
Sales tax made up 33.2 percent of county
revenues in 2013, the largest single county
revenue source.3 Almost one-quarter of these
sales tax revenues were distributed by the
counties to other local governments, including
cities, towns, villages and school districts.

County Revenue Mix, FY 2013

Other Local
Revenues
21.0%
Property Tax
24.0%

Sales Tax
Distributions
7.5%

State and
Federal Aid
21.8%

Sales Tax for

County Purposes
25.7%

Total Sales Tax: 33.2%

Source: Office of the State Comptroller. Excludes New York City.

Division of Local Government and School Accountability

Local Government Snapshot

Total Local Sales Tax Collections Regional Trends

In the Long Island region, sales tax collections

declined by 1.4 percent from 2013 to 2014. This
was due in part to the wind-down of the rebuilding
efforts that followed Superstorm Sandy in late
2012. Storm-related spending pushed Long
Island sales taxes to grow by 6.9 percent in 2013,
and the 2014 decline may largely reflect a return
to more normal long-term collection levels.

Change in Local Sales Tax Collections by Region, 2013 to 2014

Year-Over-Year Change

The strongest 2014 sales tax performance was

in the North Country, where collections grew
7.7 percent.4 Much of this improvement can be
explained by increases in sales tax rates in three
North Country counties that took effect in late
2013, but were in place for all of 2014. Essex
and Lewis counties increased their tax rates from
3.75 percent to 4 percent, while the St. Lawrence
County rate increased from 3 to 4 percent.5

10%

7.7%

8%
6%
4%
2%

3.5%

4.8%

2.6%
0.9%

3.0%

2.1%

3.0%

1.9%

0%
-2%

-1.4%
Capital Central Finger Mohawk North Southern Western Long
Mid-
New
District
NY
Lakes Valley Country Tier
NY
Island Hudson York

City

Upstate
Downstate

Source: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance; additional calculations by
the Office of the State Comptroller. Numbers not adjusted for tax rate or tax law changes.
Includes city and county general sales taxes.

Total Local Sales Tax Collections Quarterly Trends

Change in Local Sales Tax Collections by Quarter, 2013 to 2014

Year-Over-Year Change

Local sales tax collections grew by just 1.2

percent in the first quarter of 2014 over the first
quarter of 2013. While some of this weak growth
may be due to reduced spending as post storm
rebuilding entered its second year, slow growth
was considerably more widespread than the
effects of the storm and reflect a slowdown in the
national economy in that quarter (GDP declining
by 2.1 percent). In the second, third and fourth
quarters sales tax growth improved to 3.5 and
3.6 percent. This was still slower, however, than
the 15-year sales tax trend of 4.2 percent yearover-year growth.

4%

3.5%

3.5%

2nd Quarter

3rd Quarter

3.6%

3%
2%
1%
0%

1.2%

1st Quarter

4th Quarter

Source: Department of Taxation and Finance; additional calculation by the Office of

the State Comptroller. Numbers not adjusted for tax rate or tax law changes.

N e w Yo r k S t a t e O f f i c e o f t h e S t a t e C o m p t r o l l e r

Local Government Snapshot

County Sales Tax County-by-County Trends
Sales tax collections grew in 52 of the 57 counties outside of New York City from 2013 to 2014. The strongest
growth was in St. Lawrence County, where an increase in the sales tax rate from 3 to 4 percent helped spur
a 30 percent jump in collections. Hamilton County also increased its sales tax rate from 3 to 4 percent and
derived 25.7 percent growth. Lewis County saw 12.9 percent growth, helped by a 0.25 percent increase in its
sales tax rate. However, while Essex County also increased its rate by 0.25 percent, it only experienced a 6.2
percent increase in collections.
Only five counties experienced
a decline in their sales tax
collections from 2013 to 2014.
The sharpest decline was in
Nassau County (4.3 percent),
which was the center for
the effects of Superstorm
Sandy. The other counties
with collection declines were
Clinton (0.2 percent), Genesee
(0.2 percent), Oneida (0.1
percent) and Seneca (1.4
percent). Although some of
these declines were due to
technical adjustments by the
Department of Taxation and
Finance to these counties
sales tax distributions, much of
the slowdown was the result of
weaker retail sales.

Change in Sales Tax Collections from 2013 to 2014

Clinton
Franklin
St. Lawrence

Essex

Jefferson

Lewis
Hamilton
Warren
Oswego
Niagara

Orleans
Monroe
Genesee

Erie

Madison

Allegany

Rensselaer

Otsego

Cortland

Schuyler
Cattaraugus

Montgomery
Schenectady

Seneca Cayuga

Tompkins

Schoharie

Chenango

Steuben
Chemung

Tioga

Saratoga

Fulton

Herkimer

Onondaga
Ontario

Wyoming Livingston
Yates

Chautauqua

Washington

Oneida

Wayne

Broome

Delaware

Counties selection
Percentage Change
Decline
Increase less than 3 percent

Albany

Greene

Columbia

Ulster
Dutchess

Sullivan

Orange

Putnam

RocklandWestchester

Increase between 3 and 6 percent

Increase between 6 and 12 percent

Suffolk
New York City

Nassau

Increase more than 12 percent

Sales tax collections data from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Local sales taxes are those imposed for entities other than
the State.

The remaining 8 percent of local sales tax collections are distributed to other cities, certain school districts, the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) and other designated entities.

3
4

County revenue data is from the Office of the State Comptroller. 2013 is the latest year for which revenue data is available.
Regional sales tax collections include counties and cities with a general sales tax, but exclude cities with a segmented sales tax, school districts,
the MTA and other entities.

The local rate is combined with the State rate of 4 percent to determine the overall sales tax rate for each jurisdiction.

N e w Yo r k S t a t e O f f i c e o f t h e S t a t e C o m p t r o l l e r

New York State Office of the State Comptroller

Local Sales Tax Collection Growth Slows to 3 Percent in 2014; Slowest
Growth Since 2009

Local Sales Tax Collections, 2013 to 2014

Albany
Allegany
Broome
Cattaraugus
Cayuga
Chautauqua
Chemung
Chenango
Clinton
Columbia
Cortland
Delaware
Dutchess
Erie
Essex
Franklin
Fulton
Genesee
Greene
Hamilton
Herkimer
Jefferson
Lewis
Livingston
Madison
Monroe
Montgomery
Nassau
Niagara
Oneida
Onondaga
Ontario
Orange
Orleans
Oswego
Otsego
Putnam
Rensselaer
Rockland
St. Lawrence
Saratoga
Schenectady
Schoharie
Schuyler
Seneca
Steuben
Suffolk
Sullivan
Tioga
Tompkins
Ulster
Warren
Washington
Wayne
Westchester
Wyoming
Yates
TOTAL COUNTY

2013
240,696,427
19,354,675
121,604,076
35,132,942
33,450,332
53,123,275
56,691,648
20,452,167
53,354,709
33,657,153
27,650,025
20,533,333
165,945,207
712,618,696
26,147,472
20,816,772
18,568,805
38,057,036
28,604,034
2,758,195
29,400,199
71,365,541
10,469,928
30,229,388
25,077,929
447,108,869
28,183,071
1,138,834,701
116,574,969
132,038,731
328,081,365
76,934,789
258,819,005
14,819,905
41,125,357
34,691,684
53,367,340
76,815,961
185,633,703
43,455,544
107,712,970
90,715,706
14,209,992
9,618,470
23,243,814
44,993,631
1,281,871,707
33,787,235
19,227,173
47,395,629
103,274,569
48,836,237
19,352,213
40,602,658
488,045,565
16,831,191
10,609,617
7,272,573,335

2014
251,043,069
19,938,424
121,885,268
36,324,141
34,969,534
54,739,518
58,839,279
20,964,900
53,253,846
35,690,081
28,933,985
21,656,372
174,154,357
724,858,170
27,758,244
21,794,349
19,329,489
37,994,929
28,941,513
3,466,570
30,017,997
71,951,035
11,824,281
31,128,489
25,653,812
449,842,017
29,173,148
1,089,890,346
118,345,190
131,930,956
335,533,340
78,452,837
260,772,530
15,703,363
41,724,500
35,796,293
55,885,996
78,940,487
194,634,392
56,476,979
110,791,247
94,275,742
14,974,531
10,106,417
22,914,096
47,009,909
1,298,023,398
35,846,930
20,244,765
49,648,449
103,489,188
49,404,038
19,689,092
41,230,933
503,802,272
16,853,447
10,925,943
7,369,444,422

2013-2014
Percent Change
4.3%
3.0%
0.2%
3.4%
4.5%
3.0%
3.8%
2.5%
-0.2%
6.0%
4.6%
5.5%
4.9%
1.7%
6.2%
4.7%
4.1%
-0.2%
1.2%
25.7%
2.1%
0.8%
12.9%
3.0%
2.3%
0.6%
3.5%
-4.3%
1.5%
-0.1%
2.3%
2.0%
0.8%
6.0%
1.5%
3.2%
4.7%
2.8%
4.8%
30.0%
2.9%
3.9%
5.4%
5.1%
-1.4%
4.5%
1.3%
6.1%
5.3%
4.8%
0.2%
1.2%
1.7%
1.5%
3.2%
0.1%
3.0%
1.3%

New York City

Other Local

6,349,043,149
1,244,139,445

6,652,693,276
1,283,042,562

4.8%
3.1%

TOTAL LOCAL

14,865,755,930

15,305,180,260

3.0%

Source: New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

County totals include only county collections. Other Local includes collections for school
districts, Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Districts, and pre-empting cities.