Colorado Springs city sales tax collections slumped in November, a sign the Pikes Peak region has far to go before it enjoys a robust economic recovery.
Sales tax collections had increased modestly in August and September, and then were unchanged in October, which gave some economists hope that local consumer spending was picking up.
But November's city sales tax collections fell 2.8 percent from the same month a year ago, according to a report Friday from the Colorado Springs Finance Department.
The latest figure is a reminder no sustained recovery is in the offing until more jobs are created and Fort Carson's 12,000 troops return from their Middle East deployment.
...The slight upturn in collections during late summer might have resulted from the federal government's latest round of tax cuts. Those cuts put $400-per-child checks into the pocketbooks of parents eligible for child tax credits, said Fred Crowley, an economist with the Southern Colorado Economic Forum at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
But that money's been spent.