Economy
Taxable Retail Sales
Description: Retail sales are an indicator of economic health and the sales tax is an important source of revenue to Arizona’s state and local governments. Data for Arizona and Arizona counties are available monthly approximately two months after the sales were made. Directly comparable national data are not available.
Annual retail sales data are presented on the Economic and Demographic Indicators dashboard since 1984 for Arizona and the 15 Arizona counties. The figures are adjusted for inflation using the GDP implicit price deflator. The data represent only the “retail” classification of the transaction privilege tax. Restaurant and bar sales are not included. Only those retail categories subject to the state’s general sales tax are included; for example, sales of food items at grocery stores are not included.
Data Sources: Arizona Department of Revenue (data are not available online). The GDP implicit price deflator is available from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/SelectTable.asp?Selected=Y (Table 1.1.9).
Comments on the Quality of the Data: Rather than an economic series, this is an accounting series in which reporting errors are not corrected. Retailers sometimes report late and multi-establishment retailers sometimes misreport sales by county. Thus, considerable caution should be exercised when using these data for the less populous counties. The magnitude of error in data for the state, Maricopa County, and Pima County is believed to be low.
