The Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) released preliminary taxable sales estimates for the 1st quarter 2008. Over this period, $17.8 billion in taxable sales occurred in the state, a decrease of 1.97% in actual dollars from the same quarter of 2007.
Analysis by MERIC shows that if seasonal and inflationary effects are removed from the data, real year-to-year change in taxable sales during the 1st quarter of 2008 was -5.83%. This is a decrease from the -2.05% growth in the 4th quarter of 2007.
At the national level, seasonally adjusted retail sales deeased during the 1st quarter of 2008 to 2.98%. Missouri’s seasonally adjusted taxable sales have decreased by 2.0% for this same period of time. Retail sales account for approximately 65% of taxable sales in Missouri, with an additional 10% from wholesale trade, 10% from service industries such as hotels and amusement parks, 10% from communications industries, and 5% from other industries.
Source: Economy.com
