2001 Taxable Sales - Fourth Quarter - News Release - 2002

NR# 16-C
Date: March 27, 2002
Customer & Taxpayer Service Division

2001 Taxable Sales - Fourth Quarter

Preliminary statewide calculations for fourth quarter 2001 taxable sales show a decline over the actual figures for the same quarter a year ago, announced John Chiang, Chair, State Board of Equalization.

Chiang estimated that California businesses completed approximately $112.4 billion in transactions subject to the sales and use tax during the fourth quarter of year 2001 -- a decrease of about 5.1 percent over the fourth quarter 2000 final total of $118.5 billion.

Recent taxable sales and the year-to-year increases are shown below:

  1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr.
Taxable Sales (millions)
1998 $ 81,160 $ 89,961 $ 91,374 $ 96,364
1999 87,200 98,056 100,450 109,029
2000 99,901 110,971 112,490 118,493
2001 104,176 112,318 107,522 (est.) 112,416 (est.)
Year-to-Year Increase
1998 5.3% 5.9% 5.5% 4.2%
1999 7.4 9.0 9.9 13.1
2000 14.6 13.2 12.0 8.7
2001 4.3 1.2 -4.4 (est.) -5.1 (est.)

The decline in fourth quarter sales figures reflects the continuing slowdown in growth in both the national and California economies.

It is important to note that these fourth quarter 2001 figures are preliminary, based on raw sales tax receipts tabulated before adjustments for any late tax returns. Figures for cities and counties will not be available for another three months.

###