Natasha Vaughn is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Columbia and Greene counties have seen an increase in their taxable sales activity. Both counties are among 38 statewide to meet or exceed their taxable sales activity for the months of June, July and August 2020, over the same period of 2019, according to the latest report from the New York State Association of Counties Coronavirus Economic Impact report series. “We did see some significant improvement in that time period,” said Columbia County Treasurer P.J. Keeler. “A lot of it was due to internet shopping and the taxes that were attributable to that. A lot of people were also doing home improvement projects during that time.” Taxable sales represent the full value of transactions, not the amount of sales tax generated. Statewide, the total taxable sales decreased 9 percent, or $8.6 billion less, for the June-July-August period compared to 2019, according to the report. Taxable sales in Columbia County were up about $15 million or about 4.9 percent; Greene County increased by $10.4 million or roughly 4.3 percent. In both counties one of the biggest areas of increased sales was online sales. Keeler said he does not expect Columbia County to continue to show increased taxable sales numbers. An earlier report from the New York State Association of Counties found that both Columbia and Greene counties saw a decrease in their total taxable sales during the earlier part of the year. During this time the majority of industries experienced a decrease in sales in both counties, but in both counties beer, wine and liquor sales were up during this time period. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.