Dear Readers:



As you may recall I have written about the importance of shopping locally a couple of times this year. The Muskogee area sees a lot of leakage of sales tax dollars out of town, mostly to Tulsa and even the Internet. We are losing up to 30 percent leakage of dollars in some business segments.

Well, tomorrow will mark one of the biggest shopping days of the year, Black Friday.

And again, I encourage you to shop locally.

Black Friday is so named because it marks the time between now and the end of the year when many local businesses will turn their businesses from operating with a loss to a profit. Sales for the six weeks between Friday and Dec. 31 are that critical.

The chart that appears with this column shows how retail sales tax receipts from the city of Muskogee have fared recently. Sales tax receipts run two month months behind the calendar month. For example, November sale tax receipts represent sales made in September.

The city of Muskogee is the largest retail hub in our immediate area. Sales tax receipts point to down retail sales. That means many of our local businesses are really battling during this most severe recession. And it means many local municipalities may face cutting services to make ends meet.

Every dollar we spend out of town hurts our local communities. So, as we begin shopping for the Christmas season, let’s all do our best to shop locally. That will help local businesses; which in turn improves local government sales tax collections; which will come back to us with improved quality of life here.

Before heading to Tulsa to shop or jumping on the Internet, remember each dollar spent locally turns over seven times in our community, according to economists. See you in town!



Sincerely,



LARRY CORVI

Publisher

Muskogee Phoenix



City of Muskogee sales tax receipts:

Month 2008 2009 Difference Pct Var

July $1,725,369 $1,655,588 ($69,781) -4.20%

Aug. $1,698,852 $1,624,943 ($73,908) -4.50%

Sept. $1,766,789 $1,637,030 ($129,759) -7.90%

Oct. $1,796,610 $1,575,162 ($221,447) -14%

Nov.* $1,671,236 $1,476,191 ($195,044) -13.20%

*Sales tax collections run two months behind the calendar month. For example, November sales tax receipts are for sales made in September.