Back to school tax free holiday this weekend

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
Shoppers will get a little break this weekend as they prepare for a new school year.
The state's fourth annual sales tax holiday will be held Friday through Sunday. The sales tax holiday was enacted in 2006 to coincide with the beginning of the school year.
During that weekend, shoppers in Alabama do not pay the state's base four percent sales tax on almost anything associated with going back to school such as clothing, books and computer supplies.
Cities and counties decide individually whether to collect their sales taxes during the three-day weekend, which is held on the first full weekend of each August.
Franklin County's one percent sales tax will be waived, as will the city taxes in Russellville and Red Bay.
Though some tax revenue will be lost in those areas participating, state revenue officials say the three-day break does not seem to lower sales tax collections. Since the holiday went into effect, tax collections have risen each August from the previous year, according to figures from the Alabama Department of Revenue.
More local governments have waived their sales tax this year than in any of the previous years. This year's total of 252 is up from 2008's number of 245. In 2007, 233 took part and in 2006, the first year, 192 local governments participated.
Collections increased 10.4 percent in 2006, 4.6 percent in 2007 and 7.3 percent in 2008 over the previous Augusts. Comparing sales from August 2005 to August 2008 ($145.5 million in August 2005 and $180.2 million in August 2008) sales went up nearly 24 percent.
Sales taxes collected in Alabama are down 9 percent this fiscal year compared to the same period last year.
The tax holiday, which runs Friday through Sunday, is designed to give consumers a break on back-to-school shopping. Certain items of clothing up to $100 per item, computers up to $750, school supplies up to $50 and books up to $30 are exempt from sales tax.
"It will help us a lot," said Tiffany Jergenson, of Mount Hope.
As she looked over school supplies in a recent retail store, Jergenson said she has a hard time buying supplies for her three children.
"It costs more and more every year," she said. "Not having to pay taxes will help us."
Some of the items with no taxes this weekend include: pants, shirts, shoes, underwear, socks, jackets, jeans, shorts, belts, books under $30, note pads, pencils, pens, crayons and computers and computer accessories under $750.