By Amye Anderson
UCBJ Managing Editor
UPPER CUMBERLAND – Area sales tax collections, for the most part, are continuing an upward trend compared to recent months.
All but one Upper Cumberland county reported gains over the previous month. Pickett County reported a 20.9 percent drop in April, compared to the previous month – a difference of nearly $55,000 in sales tax.
The region’s top collectors, Clay (46.1), Overton (19.7), and Cannon (10.4) counties were also the local counties reporting double-digit percentage gains.
Cumberland (5.3), DeKalb (3.2), Fentress (8.5), Jackson (9.0), Macon (3.7), Putnam (2.9), Smith (6.9), Van Buren (1.6), Warren (4.9), and White (4.9) are all within the realm of the UC’s overall 5.0 percent bump in sales tax collections.
Despite a nearly 21-percent drop from March sales tax collections, Pickett County numbers show a nearly 16-percent boost over the previous year.
Overall, the state saw a 4.3-percent bump in sales tax collections while the region reported a 5.0-percent increase compared to March numbers.
| Counties | April 2018 | April 2017 | Percentage Change |
| Cannon | $433,096 | $392,122 | 10.4 |
| Clay | $244,808 | $167,587 | 46.1 |
| Cumberland | $4,568,086 | $4,338,064 | 5.3 |
| DeKalb | $991,629 | $961,224 | 3.2 |
| Fentress | $791,702 | $729,352 | 8.5 |
| Jackson | $192,134 | $176,239 | 9.0 |
| Macon | $1,167,424 | $1,125,277 | 3.7 |
| Overton | $1,075,005 | $898,092 | 19.7 |
| Pickett | $207,833 | $262,744 | -20.9 |
| Putnam | $9,196,309 | $8,935,563 | 2.9 |
| Smith | $1,011,331 | $946,300 | 6.9 |
| Van Buren | $107,373 | $105,647 | 1.6 |
| Warren | $2,417,246 | $2,303,812 | 4.9 |
| White | $1,468,221 | $1,399,129 | 4.9 |
| UC | $23,872,197 | $22,741,152 | 5.0 |
| TN | $789,954,000 | $757,299,000 | 4.3 |
