Moorpark Sales Tax Data for 1Q-2020
The City has received its sales taxes for the first calendar quarter of 2020, which included several weeks of widespread business closures during the second half of March. In addition to the sales decreases, some Moorpark businesses took the option to defer sales tax payments related to the state's COVID-19 taxpayer relief programs, which further reduced actual sales taxes paid (though these taxes will need to be paid later). Thus, there are two numbers to report when comparing the first quarter of 2019 to 2020:
- Actual sales tax decline of 11.4%
- Sales declines of 5.0% (after accounting for deferred sales tax payments)
While retailers, restaurants, service stations, and industrial sectors were hit very hard, some sectors fared better, including grocery stores, drug stores, and on-line retailers.
The impacts of COVID-19 across the economy were much more severe in the second quarter of 2020, during which large swaths of the economy were shut down. Current indicators suggest that overall tax receipts for the April-to-June period of 2020 will bottom out around 27% below the same period for 2019.
