City of Oxford collects over $1 million in sales tax revenue

Published 2:12 pm Friday, June 25, 2021

The City of Oxford received more evidence earlier this month that things are returning to pre-pandemic levels, economically speaking. 

April’s sales tax collection numbers reported by Mississippi’s Department of Revenue and Oxford saw a new record set with $1,089,614.37. The city’s stadium tax for food and beverage and the tourism tax for hotels and motels also increased for the month of April. 

Mississippi’s Department of Revenue reports tax numbers on a two-month delay. 

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The sales tax was three percent higher than March’s revenue and 79 percent higher than April 2020, which was the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic when most businesses were closed or had operations greatly scaled down due to restrictions. 

“I think it’s important to compare these numbers to the numbers from 2019, which was a much more normal year, and I’m proud to say all three taxes are up from that same month in 2019,” said Mayor Robyn Tannehill. “So, Oxford’s open for business ,and I’m so happy and I’m thrilled for our businesses. Everything’s getting back on track.” 

In April 2019, Oxford collected $856,149.14 in sales tax, which was $233,465.23 less than what Oxford collected this year. 

The food and beverage tax collected $387,876 in April, which was a two percent increase from March and 79 percent from April 2020. The tourism tax collected $48,215 in April, up 34 percent from March and 347 percent from April 2020.