Sales tax receipts have continued their upward trend for the city of Brookhaven.

At the close of 2020, the city had a year-to-date receipt total of $3.21 million, more than $300,000 over the December 2019 year-to-date total. With two more months added to the total now, the city has received $4.27 million in sales tax receipts since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2021, which began July 1, 2020. That is an increase of more than $410,000 over the previous year.

Receipts for Brookhaven in January were $568,950.33, up from one year earlier at $524,636.85. For February, receipts were $489,762.54, compared to $431,407.60 in 2020. For seven months the totals have been higher than those of the previous year.

Canton and Cleveland have the closest populations to Brookhaven of any other Mississippi municipalities — slightly more and slightly less, respectively. Canton had February receipts of $264,651.88 and Cleveland received $326,439.38.

Thirty-five cities in the state have larger populations than the Home Seekers Paradise. Of these, 13 had lower tax receipts than Brookhaven for December — Bay St. Louis, Canton, Clarksdale, Clinton, Gautier, Greenwood, Grenada, Hernando, Long Beach, McComb, Moss Point, Natchez and Pascagoula.

The Capital City of Jackson has the largest population in the state. With receipts of $2.234 million, the city remains ahead of its previous year-to-date total and had the highest receipt total. Gulfport also had more than $2 million in receipts for the month — $2.019 million.

Other cities with sales tax income of more than $1 million for February were Hattiesburg, Meridian, Ridgeland, Southaven and Tupelo.

Statewide, receipts were $37.722 million for the month and $324.84 million year-to-date — more than $4 million more than January and more than $24 million over the year-to-date total one year ago.

Thirty-six cities or towns had sales tax receipts of less than $1,000 for February, and five took in less than $100 for the month — Eden, Falcon, Gattman, Paden, Paulding and Satartia. The unincorporated town of Paulding received $33.90, the lowest amount. Satartia — with 48 residents, the least-populated town included in the sales tax collections report — brought in $95.92 for the month.

Sales tax data is provided by the Mississippi Department of Revenue. Sales tax has a three-month cycle. In Month 1, tax is collected by the retailer. In Month 2, tax is reported and paid to the Department of Revenue by the retailer. In Month 3, sales tax income (“diversion”) is paid by the DMDOR to cities. This report is based on the month the tax is collected at the MDOR (Month 2).