Washington State Department of Revenue reports strong sales in construction and new and used automobiles continued to boost the state’s taxable retail sales in third quarter 2018. The taxable retail sales increased by 8.3 percent in the third quarter of 2018 over the same period in 2017, reaching $44.7 billion. Retail trade, a subset of all taxable retail sales in the state, also increased by 6.9 percent to a total of $18.6 billion.
Statewide, construction rose 11.6 percent to $9.5 billion; taxable retail sales reported by new and used auto dealers increased 4.9 percent to $3.7 billion; sales at general merchandise stores increased 13 percent to $2.7 billion; electronic and appliance store sales jumped 12.8 percent to 1 billion. Clark County reported $2.1 billion in taxable retail sales, a 9.6 percent jump from last year, while retail trade hit $881 million, a 7.2 percent increase. Clark saw the third highest increase in taxable retail across the state and the second highest retail trade increase among the state’s largest counties. In Vancouver, taxable retail sales hit $1.1 billion, up 9 percent, and retail trade totaled $497 million, a 7.4 percent increase.
