As is usual, the state takes a possibly (maybe) good idea and manages to cock it up. The sales tax holiday starting today waives the states portion of the sales tax collected from today until August 15. Of course, they couldn't make it applicable to everything. Oh, no, that would be too easy. Instead, there's a list of some two hundred items that are exempt from state sales tax over the next week or so. Hopefully, you can open it up as I get a "file corrupted" message when I try.
As the Tribune points out:
Leotards and lunch bags qualify. Sweatbands and paper lunch bags don't. Rainwear and daily agenda books, yes. Umbrellas and dictionaries, no. Computers, data storage devices, printer cartridges and cell phones aren't included. But calculators are. Nursing shoes and orthotic inserts get a break, but ballet shoes and gym shoes don't.
Chain retailers carrying these products shouldn't have much problem adjusting registers to reflect the change in tax on the 200+ items. Independent retailers will have a harder time of it and figuring out how much sales tax needs to go to the state next month will add in additional hassle to the single store operation.
There's also research from the Tax Foundation indicating that people don't spend any more because of the tax holiday, they just shift purchases around. On the other hand, a study done of the Florida tax holiday indicated sales increased by 8%. Guess we'll have to wait and see which happens here.
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