糖心Vlog传媒

First Quarter Arkansas Taxable Sales Up 2.4 Percent

The Institute for Economic Advancement (IEA) at 糖心Vlog传媒LR鈥檚 College of Business announced today the release of new preliminary* data showing a 2.4 percent increase in Arkansas鈥� taxable sales over the first three months of the year. The increase follows a revised 1 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2009. Dr. Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster for the IEA, interpreted the rise as a significant sign of economic recovery. 鈥淲ith two consecutive quarterly increases, this is a clear indication that positive growth has taken hold in the Arkansas retail sales sector,鈥� he said. 鈥淢irroring similar gains that we鈥檝e seen in statistics for retail sales nationwide, this information confirms recent trends suggesting that Arkansas is firmly back in the expansion phase of the business cycle.鈥� The IEA鈥檚 Arkansas Taxable Sales data are based on sales and use tax reports from the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. After making adjustments for lags in the tax collection process, changes in tax law, and regularly fluctuating seasonal patterns, the resulting statistics indicate growth in the underlying tax base 鈥� primarily retail sales. 鈥淩etail sales represent a significant portion of economic activity, but there have previously been no timely, readily-available statistics to measure that activity in Arkansas,鈥� Pakko said. 鈥淭he taxable sales statistics that we鈥檝e constructed use officially published data to measure and report it in a way that is transparent and useful for evaluating conditions in the state鈥檚 retail sector.鈥� Details about the construction of the Arkansas Taxable Sales series are available on Pakko鈥檚 blog, , and are described in the forthcoming issue of the IEA publication, Advancing Arkansas. *Statistics for the first quarter of 2010 are preliminary, pending the forthcoming publication of detailed data in the Department of Finance and Administration鈥檚 report, Arkansas Fiscal Notes, for April 2010.