State releases February tax collections

Tennessee’s February revenues have just been released, and the state has exceeded budget estimates by a significant margin.

The total February tax revenues were $1.37 billion, $45.3 million more than last year and $16.9 million more than budget estimations. White County also saw large success in February 2025 over February 2024, with large revenue collections increases in state sales, local sales, and especially realty transfer and mortgage.

Many industries showed a large increase in their sales and use. The largest increases were in industries such as transportation and warehousing, which had a 104.44% growth rate from February 2024 to February 2025. Arts, entertainment, and recreation also showed a significant increase at around 24%. In fact, the only industry to show a decrease from last year was construction, which lost about $1.8 million, or 13.5%, of its sales and use. The increase in retail and entertainment industries should indicate a positive economic situation for the state, evidenced by the increase in tax revenue.

For White County, nearly every recorded class of tax showed an increase from February 2024. Local sales showed an increase nearing $17,000, while total state sales in the county reached just under $47,000. Realty transfer and mortgage saw the largest increase the past year, with a revenue increase from $48,788 to $79,429.

Surrounding counties like Putnam show similar trends in most class of tax categories, but the growth in realty transfer and mortgages is not as prevalent. Putnam County only grew from $220,899 to $238,267. DeKalb also saw a near $30,000 increase in realty taxes, indicating that smaller counties such as White and DeKalb are now growing at a larger rate.

Business, state and local taxes, showed a large decrease in revenues for the county, though this is shared with the whole state. The Summary of Collections shows businesses as having an 8.67% drop in revenue. For White County, business tax revenue dropped from $53,587 to $16,742. Chad Marcum, White County’s Director of Finance, says that such fluctuations from month to month is incredibly common. Marcum also says that from a year-to-date standpoint, White County is tracking very close to the last fiscal year to date. With most businesses having their fiscal year end on Dec. 31, and most receipts occurring in April and May, this smaller business revenue tax is likely not indicative of a larger issue.