January 25, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County pulled in more local option sales tax dollars in the fiscal year 2019-20 than the previous year—even with the pandemic.
The local option sales tax collections in DeKalb County totaled $1,146,811 from July 2019 to June 2020 which is up from collections of $967,741 from July 2018 to June 2019 and $853,233 from July 2017 to June 2018 according to the Tennessee Department of Revenue.
DeKalb collections of local option sales tax dollars for the first half of the current fiscal year 2020-21 (July-December 2020) have also been up compared to the same time period in 2019-20.
Figures show that DeKalb County collected $814, 952.44 from July-December, 2020 which is up from collections of $575,865.74 from July-December, 2019.
June 2020 was the best month for collections of local option sales taxes in DeKalb County during the 2019-20 fiscal year at $122,195 followed by January 2020 at $120,455 and $118,949 in August 2019 and $112,770 in July 2019.
So far this fiscal year 2020-21, July has been the best month at $150,968 followed by August $145,266, September $138,476, October $137,940, November $117,000, and December $125,299.
A host of factors plays into the sales tax. Many believe that more people have been shopping locally instead of traveling to larger cities during COVID-19 and that online shopping may have increased causing a spike in local option sales tax collections from online purchases.
Since the fall of 2019, Tennessee has been collecting sales taxes from online retailers even if the retailer does not have a physical address in the state thanks to a US Supreme Court decision allowing states to collect such taxes.