Source: North Dakota Tax Commission

Taxable sales and purchases were up 3.82% in Minot in 2018, according to annual figures released by the State Tax Commission.

Statewide, taxable sales and purchases totaled $20.24 billion, a 12.5% increase from the $17.98 billion total in 2017. The tax department reports the 12% annual growth rate is the largest year-over-year increase in taxable sales and purchases since 2012.

“We are continuing to see growth in our sectors related to oil and gas industry,” said Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger in a news release. “You can also see how the oil industry has impacted this report when you take note that the majority of the counties with larger increases were in the west.”

Mountrail and McKenzie counties, two major oil producing counties, both grew by over 43% in 2018. Parshall saw more than a 324% increase.

Taxable sales and purchases were up 76.4% in utilities, 42.3% in mining and oil extraction and 32.6% in transportation and warehousing in 2018. Of the 15 major industry sectors, 14 reported taxable sales and purchases gains when compared to 2017. Retail trade was up 3.4%, or $206 million. Only information industries was down, a decline a 19%.

Not only were Minot’s overall taxable sales and purchases of $1 billion up 3.82%, but city sales tax collections were up 5.7%. Each of Minot’s two penny sales taxes brought in $10.59 million, or more than a million dollars more in total collections than in 2017, according to figures from the city. Collections in the first quarter of 2019 were running slightly ahead of 2018.

Ward County’s taxable sales and purchases of $1.1 billion were up 3.43% in 2018 over 2017. That compares with 25.93 percent in Williams County, 2.29% in Cass County, 2.22% in Burleigh County and

-11.96% in Grand Forks County.

Ward County’s half percent sales tax brought in more than $6.15 million in 2018, up more than 5 percent from 2017, according to the Ward County Auditor’s Office. Collections for the first quarter of 2019 also are slightly higher than first quarter 2018.

Among larger cities with increases in taxable sales and purchases in 2018 were Williston, 26%; Dickinson, 14%; and Fargo, 1.4%. Bismarck saw a drop of 2.2% and Grand Forks 12.2%. Williston surpassed Bismarck to become the city with the second highest taxable sales and purchases in the state with $1.56 billion for 2018.