Methodology: how and why we publish sales + use tax numbers

Sales tax and use tax are one piece of the broader economic puzzle, but still an important part. Those looking to judge the health of a community’s economy look to these numbers to see not only how much people are spending, but what the general sentiment is.

Here in Kansas, sales tax and use tax are collected and numbers published by the Department of Revenue once a month for every city and county within this state’s borders. So we figured: why not publish something on it?

We’ll throw in analysis when we think it’ll help to clear up the whole picture, along with commentary from those who help make economic decisions for McPherson County. We’ll show you how McPherson’s peers are doing around the state, too, both cities and counties.^[1]

We compare the numbers monthly to one year ago, as well as the total amount that has been generated up to the month.

We look at sales tax and use tax as separate indicators – mostly because they’re collected for different things. The easiest way to think about it is that sales tax is collected for in-person sales and services, while use tax tends to be collected for online and out-of-state purchases.

For example, if you pop down to Craft Coffee Co on Main Street and pay tax there with your purchase of a coffee, you’re paying sales tax. Paying a plumber to come and fix something in your house? You’re also paying sales tax. Purchasing something on Amazon or a car out of state? That’s use tax. ^[2]

There’s subtleties in how each tax is collected and why, but they aren’t important to our analysis.^[3]

As always, if you have questions about our methodology or general feedback, please contact us. We always enjoy hearing from readers.