Rauschenberger: Taxable Sales and Purchases Increase Nearly 10 Percent for Second Consecutive Quarter

Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger announced today that North Dakota’s taxable sales and purchases for the second quarter of 2018 had increased by nearly 10 percent. Taxable sales and purchases for April, May and June 2018 were nearly $5.15 billion, a 9.46 percent increase over those months in 2017.

“This is the second consecutive quarter North Dakota taxable sales and purchases have increased by nearly 10 percent, and the fifth consecutive quarter that we’ve seen growth in this report,” Rauschenberger stated.

Nine of the 15 major sectors reported taxable sales and purchases gains when compared to the second quarter a year ago. Most notably, the mining and oil extraction sector increased by $208 million (a 43.31 percent increase) and the wholesale trade sector increased by $236 million (a 22.23 percent increase).

“There was strong growth in both the mining and oil extraction sector and the wholesale trade sector, two sectors associated with the oil industry,” Rauschenberger said. “The retail trade sector, the sector often thought of as a measure of economic activity, saw a meager increase.  Unlike the oil boom of earlier this decade, this oil expansion does not involve as rapid of population or jobs growth, with limited impact on the retail trade sector to-date.”