Believe it or not, it’s almost time for back-to-school shopping. And you know what that means, right? Time for a sales tax holiday! Unfortunately, some states have dropped their tax-free shopping days due to budgetary problems, but others are still going strong.
What follows is an alphabetical listing of state sales tax holidays along with a brief summary of what’s included in each case, as well as a link to more information. This should be a fairly comprehensive list, but it’s always possible that I missed something. If I did, please let me know so I can update the list.
Sales tax holidays, state-by-state
Alabama: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, computers up to $750/item, school supplies up to $50/item, and books up to $30/item.
Connecticut: August 15th-21st. Includes clothing and footwear up to $300/item.
Florida: August 13th-15th. Includes clothing and books up to $50/item and school supplies up to $10/item.
Illinois: August 6th-15th. Includes clothing, footwear, and school supplies up to $100/item. (link)
Iowa: August 6th-7th. Includes clothing up to $100/item. (link)
Louisiana: August 6th-7th. Includes the first $2500 of the purchase price of all “tangible personal property, ” not including vehicles.
Maryland: August 8th-14th. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item.
Mississippi: July 30th-31st. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item.
Missouri: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, computer software up to $350/item, computers hardware up to $3500/item, and school supplies up to $15/item.
New Mexico: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, computers up to $1000/item, associated peripherals up to $500/item, and school supplies up to $15/item.
North Carolina: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing and school supplies up to $100/item, instructional materials up to $300/item, computers up to $3500/item, computer supplies up to $250/item, and sports/recreation equipment up to $50/item. (link)
Oklahoma: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item.
South Carolina: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing, clothing accessories, footwear, school supplies, computers, printers, software, and a variety of housewares. No stated limit on value/item. (link)
Tennessee: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing up to $100/item, school supplies up to $100/item, and computers up to $1500/item. (link)
Texas: August 20th-22nd. Includes clothing, footwear, book bags, and school supplies up to $100/item.
Virginia: August 6th-8th. Includes clothing and footwear up to $100/item and school supplies up to $20/item.
Note: There are a handful of other sales tax holidays throughout the year covering things like hurricane preparedness, Energy Star products, and even guns. My focus here was just on the back-to-school sales tax holidays.
The MA tax holiday can potentially save MA residents the time and the $$ for gas to drive to NH for the 0% sales tax all the time in NH, and the 6.25% MA sales tax on these dates if approved.
it also saves MA residents from driving their cars an extra ~80 miles roundtrip (and spending that in gas) to save on the new 6.25% sales tax in MA.
Massachusetts Representatives voted in favor of a sales tax holiday for August 14 & 15. Now it has to go to the senate & the governor to sign. Not that I have any large purchases (under $2,500) planned, but for those that do this might save them a few dollars.
If it makes for some extra sales at better margins for the stores, more power to them. The consumer is not the only one that is meant to benefit. I agree that watching for sales can often net greater savings than a tax holiday, but you can look at the tax holiday as just another discount sale.
@ Denny
It depends on what state you are talking about. I live in Texas where sales tax is 8.25%. That is a little more than a few percent. I will have say that it is pretty gimmicky though.
Denny is absolutely right…I only wish our politicians would listen to people like him.
Don’t forget Alaska, Delaware, Oregon and Montana. In those states, the sales tax holiday runs from January 1 to December 31.
I’m disappointed to find out that Georgia isn’t doing a sales tax holiday this year. I just checked and sure enough, nothing. Their web site states that the bills for it stalled in the legislature. Boo! It’s a great time to clothes shop, as the stores often have huge discounts too.
These back-to-school tax holidays are silly political gimmicks.
A couple of percent off the price of small-ticket items doesn’t help anyone…. you’re better off just watching for routine store sales — and getting 10-20% + off regular prices.
The big stores love these “tax-holidays” because it’s free advertising from the government & local media … drawing customers into their stores.
Ignore the hype.
Americans need ‘real’ tax cuts — not political fluff.
Sweet! Thanks for the reminder. That will give me a good excuse to wait until August to stock up on undies at Sam’s Club!