Truly Incredible -- Who Wudda Thought? -- April 9, 2015; Bottineau's Taxable Sales Jump Almost 600%; Watford City Up Over 60%

XNET is reporting:

North Dakota's taxable sales and purchases significantly increase.

Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger says the combined sales and purchases in October, November and December of 2014 were just over 7.9 billion dollars, a 16.7% increase.

He says it may be because of our mild winter.

Shoppers were able to get out every weekend and oil exploration had few delays due to weather.

The top 3 cities with the largest increases in taxable sales and purchases are Beach at 31%.

Watford City went up by 62%, and Bottineau alone jumped 567%.

"The strong taxable sales and purchases that occurred in the 4th quarter are really indicative of how ND is doing well even with the lower oil price that we're in. We're still seeing that we're coming in above forecast. Even in the early part of 2015, we're actually still seeing sales tax coming in pretty strong," Ryan Rauschenberger, ND Tax Commissioner says.

From the state's website:

Of the 50 largest cities in North Dakota, the highest percent increases for the fourth quarter of 2014 (compared to the fourth quarter of 2013) were as follows:

• Bottineau – Increase of 567.39 percent
• Watford City – Increase of 62.60 percent
• Beach – Increase of 31.21 percent
• Stanley – Increase of 29.12 percent
• Lincoln – Increase of 17.02 percent

Counties with the highest percent increases for the fourth quarter of 2014 (compared to the fourth quarter of 2013) were as follows:

• Bottineau County – Increase of 347.67 percent
• Dunn County – Increase of 80.62 percent
• Sioux County – Increase of 77.12 percent
• Slope County – Increase of 57.80 percent
• McKenzie County – Increase of 54.61 percent

The PDF statistical report is at the state website.