2007 State Sales Tax Holidays for Back-to-School Shopping
It’s that time of year again… Back-to-school shopping is just around the corner. What follows is a list of state sales tax holidays that are scheduled to take place during the back-to-school shopping season. In each case, I’ve listed the pplicable dates, the items covered, and the maximum values of eligible items (if applicable). So there you have it… Go forth and buy tax-free goods!
Alabama, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
Computers – $750
School supplies – $50
Books – $30
Connecticut, August 19th-25th
Clothing – $300
District of Columbia, August 4th-12th
Clothing – $100
School supplies – $100
Georgia, August 2nd-5th
Clothing – $100
School supplies – $20
Computers – $1,500
Florida, August 4th-13th
Clothing – $50
School supplies – $10
Iowa, August 3rd-4th
Clothing – $100
Missouri, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
Computers – $3500
School supplies – $50
New Mexico, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
Computers – $1,000
School supplies – $15
North Carolina, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
School supplies – $100
Computers – $3,500
Other computer items – $250
Sports equipment – $50
Oklahoma, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
South Carolina, August 3rd-5th
Clothing
School supplies
Computers
Linens
Tennessee, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
School supplies – $100
Computers – $1,500
Texas, August 17th-19th
Clothing and backpacks – $100
Virginia, August 3rd-5th
Clothing – $100
School supplies – $20
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Ohio is never on any tax-free list.
Comment by Karen — Jul 11th 2007 @ 7:06 amI’ve never heard of such a thing, but then my state(WI) isn’t listed. Seems like a wonderful benefit for those who can use it.
Comment by Chad D — Jul 11th 2007 @ 10:49 amI think that Maine has something as well, but I haven’t seen it advertised anywhere this year.
Comment by Blaine Moore — Jul 11th 2007 @ 11:28 amSales tax holidays are popular and hard to argue against, but they are regressive. What good are they to people who live paycheck to paycheck and do not have credit?
Comment by Minimum Wage — Jul 15th 2007 @ 10:57 amSales tax holidays aren’t the regressive thing… Rather, sales taxes themselves are a regressive tax. Think about it, flat rate, no deductions, and you’re only taxed on what you spend. If you don’t make much and live paycheck to paycheck, then you are (more or less) taxed on your full income. Compare that to high income individuals that are able to squirrel away a significant portion of their income, effectively dodging state taxes on that entire amount. This is why states that are run solely on sales taxes without any sort of ‘regular’ income tax are so hard on the working poor.
Comment by dad — Jul 15th 2007 @ 2:39 pmYou’re missing Louisiana on this list. More info here:
http://revenue.louisiana.gov/s.....spx?id=195
Comment by Matthew Vince — Jul 15th 2007 @ 8:06 pmI live in Texas and usually take advantage of the “tax free weekend”. If you have alot of people to shop for then yeah you come out on top. I only have 2 kids to shop for. i usually don’t even get to the 100$ mark which would equal me saving about 8$ in taxes.
I’m glad they changed it this year to the middle of the month instead of the first weekend (rents due).
Comment by Tiffany — Jul 15th 2007 @ 9:04 pmDon’t forget, New Jersey waives sales tax on clothing all year round.
Comment by mike cohen — Jul 15th 2007 @ 11:16 pmWhere’s Oregon? Oh yeah, every day is a sales tax holiday!
Comment by tmobcsr — Jul 16th 2007 @ 1:49 amWell Maryland usually has it but this year they did not set it up. It seems like a very family friendly thing for the local government to do. Shame not all states do this.
Comment by mary — Jul 16th 2007 @ 6:22 amThis is great information… what a great site overall! Thanks for the info!
Comment by Matt — Jul 16th 2007 @ 1:51 pmwhat the hell? You guys pay sales tax on clothing? that’s crazy. Here in pennsylvania, we might not get tax holidays, but clothing and (most) food is always tax free.
Comment by JM — Jul 16th 2007 @ 4:42 pmso how does this work? you go through the check out at KMart, Walmart, Target, where ever & the appropriate items are rang up w/o tax? Do you have to tell the cashier about this? Just wondering how difficult these savings are to use. I’m in Missouir BTW. Denny
Comment by Denny — Jul 19th 2007 @ 10:16 amDenny,
In Louisiana, the registers are reprogrammed to ignore the taxes, so there’s nothing special that you need to do. I’m not sure how this translates to other states.
Comment by Matthew Vince — Jul 19th 2007 @ 10:18 amMatthew is right. The store registers should automatically take care of this. It doesn’t hurt to double-check, but the stores are well aware of sales tax holidays.
Comment by dad — Jul 19th 2007 @ 10:45 amthanks for the info. i posted it at my own blog too.
Comment by bliss — Jul 20th 2007 @ 11:56 amDoes this work online? Thanks
Comment by Lou — Jul 30th 2007 @ 2:04 pmWhen I lived in NH, the only time I spent money in MA was on MA’s state tax holiday (I think it was an experiment by the Taxachussetts legislature). Don’t know what I was thinking when I moved to CA, this state is much worse than Taxachussetts!
Comment by JOATMON — Aug 2nd 2007 @ 11:07 pmI live in Arkansas and we do not have the tax free weekend. It makes it so much harder on me to have to travel to different states to try to catch a good sale. With gas prices continuously on the rise, by the time i make it to the sale i have already spent $100. Every other state surrounding AR has a tax free weekend and i think we as a state should really consider keeping some of the money at home.
Comment by struggling mom — Aug 3rd 2007 @ 2:31 amIf your state doesn’t have a tax free holiday, and you don’t live directly adjacent to the state border, I would shop online at merchants without a sales tax as opposed to burning a bunch of gas trying to save a relatively small amount of money.
Given your statement of $100 spent on just getting there (and back, I would assume), and further assuming an AR state sales tax of 7% (I’m just guessing here) then you’d have to make $1428.57 in eligible purchases just to break even
I’m guessing that the $100 is an overstatement — after all, that’s a bit over 33 gallons of gas at $3/gallon. Assuming you get a 20 mpg, that’s nearly 700 miles of driving. I can’t imagine that anyone would willingly drive that distance for a tax holiday. Of course, I’m ignoring things like wear and tear, but stilll…
The point still stands. There are better ways to save money than driving vast distances to save a small percent on purchases.
(Don’t forget your time investment, either.)
Comment by dad — Aug 3rd 2007 @ 8:46 amMassachusetts will have this too, next weekend on any purchases up to $2500. I don’t think there are any restrictions so if you need to purchase a big ticket item here it may be the time to do it. If you want to brave the crowds, that is!
Comment by Ann — Aug 4th 2007 @ 7:39 pm