Dell fuels Round Rock sales tax jump

Every time Dell sells something, Round Rock makes money, says Round Rock spokesperson Will Hampton. “We track sales tax revenue closely because it makes up more of our revenue than property tax,” he said Thursday as he happily talked about Dell’s continued revenue growth. As the Austin Monitor noted on Thursday, Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported on Wednesday that Round Rock collected $62 million for the current fiscal year as compared to about $53 million last year. Hampton said just for the month of September Dell receipts were up more than 45 percent over the same month last year. “We’ve had 17 consecutive months of increase in Dell sales tax receipts,” Hampton said. Unlike Austin and most other cities, 44 percent of Round Rock’s income comes from sales tax, as opposed to just 33 percent from property taxes, he said. Of course, Round Rock collects other fees to support economic development and to help lower property taxes, Hampton said.