Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock said on April 1 that state sales tax revenue reached $4 billion in March, marking a 10 percent increase compared to March 2025. Most of the revenue is based on February sales that were remitted to the agency in March.
Hancock said this growth was the fastest since February 2023 and was driven by a strong Texas economy. “State sales tax collections in March grew at the fastest rate since February 2023, propelled by a robust Texas economy with growth once again well above the rate of general price inflation,” Hancock said. “Growth was particularly strong in sectors influenced primarily by business spending for the second month in a row, while receipts from the retail trade sector grew at their fastest pace since the pandemic.”
Business-related sectors such as wholesale trade, construction, and mining saw double-digit increases over last year, while manufacturing rose about seven percent. The retail trade sector—Texas’s largest—grew more than nine percent compared to last March, representing its biggest monthly gain since June 2022 when revenues were still recovering from pandemic lows. Electronic shopping receipts were up more than sixteen percent year-over-year, with clothing and accessory stores, health and personal care stores, and general merchandise stores also showing strong gains. Services sector remittances increased nearly nine percent.
Restaurant receipts climbed over seven percent from last year, outpacing food-away-from-home inflation rates. For the three months ending in March 2026, total sales tax revenue was up nearly seven percent compared to the same period a year ago. Sales tax accounts for fifty-eight percent of all state tax collections.
Other major taxes collected included $415 million from motor vehicle sales and rentals (down twenty-three percent), $303 million from motor fuel taxes (up three percent), $378 million from oil production (down eleven percent), $180 million from natural gas production (down thirty-eight percent), $65 million from hotel occupancy taxes (up twelve percent), and $142 million from alcoholic beverage taxes (up two percent) compared to March 2025.
Further details on monthly collections can be found through the Comptroller’s Monthly State Revenue Watch or through an updated history of state tax policy developments.
