TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE PROVIDES ANALYSIS OF
MAY 2006 COLLECTIONS

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - May 2006 collections of the Tennessee Department of Revenue were $783,028,077, an increase of $49,186,227 or 6.7 percent over May 2005 collections.

Sales and use tax collections were $532,294,433, up $21,655,779 or 4.2 percent over May 2005 collections. The retail trade group was up 3.4 percent over last year's collections. General merchandise stores (up 4.6 percent), miscellaneous retail stores (up 6 percent), building materials stores (up 5.9 percent), and food stores (up 4.5 percent) contributed to the increase in collections for the retail sector. Sales tax receipts from the services group were up 3.1 percent, with increased collections in business services (up 11.1 percent) leading the group. Collections from the non-retail, non-services group were up 4.0 percent, with increases in the wholesale trade (up 18 percent), communications (up 8.5 percent), and electricity, gas and sanitary services (up 13.8 percent) sectors accounting for large increases. Offsetting these increases in the services group were decreases in the transportation (down 194 percent) and manufacturing (down 5.3 percent) sectors. Consumer use tax collections were down 13.8 percent from May 2005 collections.

Franchise and excise tax collections were $57,538,997, up $17,033,584 or 42 percent when compared to May 2005 collections. Separately, franchise tax collections were $21,651,729, up $9,952,583 or 85.1 percent over last year. Excise tax collections were $35,887,268, up $7,081,001 or 24.6 percent over May 2005 collections.

Collections from the privilege taxes were $51,221,261, a 13.4 percent or $6,050,944 increase over total privilege taxes collected in the same period last year.

Motor vehicle registrations were $23,772,076, exceeding last year's collections by $4,598,718 or 24 percent.

Motor vehicle fuel tax collections were $14,855,394, an increase of $1,802,020 or 13.8 percent over last year's collections.

Business tax collections were -$2,807,357, a decrease of $3,795,101 or 384.2 percent from May 2005 collections.

The Department of Revenue collects approximately 92 percent of total state tax revenue. During the 2004-2005 fiscal year, the department collected $9.6 billion in state taxes and fees. In addition to collecting state taxes, $1.7 billion of local sales tax was collected by the department for local governments during the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Besides collecting taxes, the department enforces the revenue laws fairly and impartially in an effort to encourage voluntary taxpayer compliance. The department also apportions revenue collections for distribution to the various state funds and local units of government. To learn more about the department, log on to www.Tennessee.gov/revenue.

###