Numbers for the first quarter of this year are in, and the news is not good according to Neil Williamson, president of a group called the Free Enterprise Forum. It joined with the regional chamber of commerce to review sales tax revenue for the first three months of this year.
“In the first quarter only one of the localities studied exceeded the consumer price index or inflation, and that was Greene County, which had just over three percent growth year over year in the sales tax revenue. Albemarle County had positive growth. It was about two percent, but every other locality that we studied showed loss compared year over year for those first three months."
He noted that Easter was later this year, and we had several days of snow that may have kept shoppers at home in Augusta, Charlottesville, Fluvanna and Waynesboro, but Williamson says what happened next was worrisome.
“Usually when you have a snow event, you have a lull in retail sales and then a pickup for all the things that you didn’t get while you weren’t out shopping. We did not see that pickup this time around."
That’s why he suspects consumer uncertainty as the public heard reports about tariffs that varied from day to day.
“That is not necessarily a positive for buying a new dishwasher for instance," Williamson explains. "On the national basis we’re hearing concerns from larger factory owners about this uncertainty as well.”
If the trend continues, he says, the state and localities may have to revise their spending plans for 2025.
