Online merchants top taxable sales generators

Nonstore retailers, which include online outlets like Amazon, reported $12.62 million in taxable sales in Douglas County over the month of January.

That’s down from $13.4 million in December, which saw a peak in the sector, according to the Nevada Department of Taxation.

While good news for county governmental revenues, that’s bad news for the big box stores across the county.

General merchandise stores, which include both Walmarts and the Target, raised $8.98 million in January, a 7.8 percent increase.

Douglas is in its second year of having to generate sales tax from within its boundaries, prompted in part by the increase in Internet sales.

The amount of sales in the sector has increased fairly steadily since July 1, 2022, and while there have been some $13 million months, the last time nonstore retailers were below $10 million was August 2023.

The Department of Taxation takes two months to release figures, so numbers for January were reported at the beginning of April.

Merchant wholesalers of durable goods more than doubled taxable sales in January, raising $8.1 million, an increase of 67 percent over last year’s total. That helped improve the sector to 3.3 percent for the fiscal year.

Food services and drinking places came in second for January, with $10.15 million, a decline of 2.3 percent from January 2023. Accommodations came almost a point higher than last year with $3.66 million, but amusement, gambling and recreation was down 14.8 percent at $1.3 million during the month. All three sectors are mostly related to the Stateline casinos.

Gaming numbers for the casinos were up 12.93 percent in February to $21.35 million, helping them climb out of a hole dug last fall.

The main source of gaming revenue in Douglas County has generated $175 million since July 1, 2023, still down 2.44 percent from the previous year.