Growth in Bay Area’s Taxable Sales Declines

Growth in taxable retail sales in the nine-county San Francisco area in 1986 fell below growth in inflation, a report by the Assn. of Bay Area Governments said Thursday.

Sales increased 2.2%, while inflation increased 3.2%. In the previous year, when inflation was up 4.2%, sales were up 5.1%.

“If this trend (1986) continues, we’ll be feeling it in the local economy soon,” said Poulicos Prastacos, an ABAG analyst. “Declining growth will have an obvious impact on jobs for retail workers.”

He said local governments, which get 23% of their general revenue from sales taxes, “will be left scrambling to raise money from other sources or forced to cut services.”

The report said the Bay Area’s 1986 sales growth of 2.2% slipped well behind sales growth statewide of 4.3%.

San Francisco’s share of taxable retail sales in the nine-county area has tumbled during the past two decades from 25% to 14%, the report said.

Alameda County’s share dropped nearly 5%, and Santa Clara County’s share rose to 28% from 19%. The other counties remained the same or rose one or two points.