PROVIDENCE – Local 1 percent meal and beverage tax collections in Rhode Island in July declined $45,190, or 1.6 percent, year over year to $2.8 million, according to the R.I. Department of Revenue Thursday.
East Greenwich experienced the largest year-over-year nominal decrease in the state with a decline of $169,211, but the July 2016 figure included an undisclosed amount of revenue from a local meal and beverage audit recovery. Collection in July 2017 was $64,111. The second-largest decline was in Newport, where local meal and beverage tax collection declined $22,385 year over year to $301,548.
Of any municipality in the state, Providence experienced the largest nominal increase in local 1 percent meal and beverage tax collection, increasing $50,412 year over year in July to $484,928.
July figures are also the year-to-date figures as July is the first month of the fiscal year.
It is possible that the East Greenwich figure from July 2016 skews the entire state collection performance. The DOR release describes the audit collection as “not insignificant.” Month to month, local meal and beverage tax collections increased 17.7 percent, an upswing of $416,132 from the $2.4 million June 2017 collection.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
