Busy April helps boost local sales, tourism taxes

By Alyssa Schnugg

Senior reporter

The month of April was a busy one for Oxford with the return of Morgan Wallen, a booming Double Decker Weekend and lots of baseball.

The events brought tens of thousands of people into Oxford who ate at local restaurants, shopped at local stores and slept in local hotels – all contributing to increasing the city’s sales tax and tourism tax increases.

The city’s sales and tourism taxes for April were released by the Mississippi Department of Revenue earlier this week.

Sales taxes amounted to $1,215,980 in April, up from $1,152,463 in April 2023. From July 1, 2023 – when the state’s fiscal year begins, through April 30 of this year, sales taxes have brought in $11,748,910, up about $500,000 from the $11,242,690 collected during the same period in 2023.

Also in April, the 2% food and beverage tax, or Stadium Tax, brought in $443,517 in April, up from $403,765 in 2023. From July 1, 2023, through April 30, the 2% tax has brought in $3,816, 646, up from $3,726,474 during the same period in 2023.

The Hotel/Max Tax, or Tourism Tax, also increased, bringing in $76,355 in April compared to $73,515 in April 2023. The hotel/motel tax has seen the largest just thus far in taxes this fiscal year. In 2023, from July 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023, the Hotel/motel tax brought in $581, 020. This fiscal year thus far, it has earned $770,330.

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