Pasadena Sales Tax Collections Jump 23.4 Percent

Pasadena’s latest sales tax receipts collections reported a significant increase in local economic activity, revealiong a strong rebound from the pandemic impacts of a year ago.

A Pasadena Sales Tax Update for the third quarter of 2021 prepared by tax consultant HDL Companies and submitted to Finance Director Matthew Hawkesworth last week overall receipts climbed 23.4 percent above the same period the year before.

The automobile sales and transportation business group led the way, followed by the General Consumer Goods group.

Restaurants and hotels contributed the fourth highest amount of taxes to the City, the update showed. The update covers July to September, 2021.

“With minimal mask requirements and continued pent up demand to eat out, restaurants were pushed closer to pre-pandemic levels,” the update read. “Sensational returns from multiple retailers including family apparel, home furnishings, electronic-appliance and specialty stores were largely responsible for the general growth.”

In a statement, Hawkesworth said the year-over-year comparison should be taken in context as with the last quarterly update, since the July to September 2020 period was a time where many businesses were closed entirely as the COVID-19 related restrictions were in effect.

“Some industries such as automobile sales have flourished over the past 18-months, while other industries such as restaurants and hotels have not fully recovered,” Hawkesworth said.

The update also showed the auto lease category showed a slight decline from the prior year, a sign that more people may have purchased automobiles instead of leased them.

Statewide, the update showed restaurants and hotels were among the stronger sectors as far as sales receipts were concerned. Originally forecast to take longer to recover, the sector generated sales taxes during the summer that were in excess of amounts from 2019 before the pandemic hit.

“When combined with increasing restaurant tabs as the cost of food and staff wages surge, sales tax remittances are expected to continue growing,” the update said. “Additionally, while the industry awaits the return of foreign tourism in metropolitan areas, strong domestic travel has helped varied regions around the state especially Southern California and the Central Coast.”