Sales tax holidays, take two

August 13, 2008

Attention Massachusetts, Connecticut and Texas shoppers! Your state sales tax holiday is this weekend.

Sales_tax_holiday_iowa_2Texas kicks off this final round of back-to-school sales tax-free events on Friday, Aug. 15. State and some local levies will be waived through Sunday, Aug. 17.

Massachusetts is giving its shoppers the weekend days to save or spend or both, depending on who’s talking about the event.

Connecticut is holding a week-long event, starting Sunday, Aug. 17, and running through Saturday, Aug. 23.

The table below provides details on these last three late summer sales tax holidays.

Texas, Massachusetts & Connecticut
2008 Tax Holidays
Click on the state name to go to the official tax holiday Web page.
State Dates Tax-exempt Items
Texas August 15-17 Clothing (o $50 per item);
books (up to $30 each)
Massachusetts August 16-17  Most items costing $2,500 or less; purchases of vehicles, meals and certain services remain taxable
Connecticut August 17-23  Clothing and footwear (up to $300 per item)

More tax holidays this fall: Remember to mark your calendar, though, if you live in D.C., Georgia,
South Carolina, Virginia or West Virginia. In a couple of months, these
states will be holding more sales tax holidays.

Georgia, Virginia and West Virginia will reward energy efficient shoppers. West Virginia’s event is Sept. 1-7; Georgia’s runs Oct. 2-5; and Virginia shoppers get tax savings from Oct. 10-13.

Washington, D.C.’s second event of the year is just like the first one, only timed to appeal to the holiday shopping spirit. It runs from Nov. 21 through Dec. 1.

And hunters and gun aficionados from all over the south and southeast will be heading to the Palmetto State in late November for what is probably the most unique tax holiday of, well, of forever: South Carolina’s first Second Amendment Sales-Tax Holiday.

Yep, as mentioned previously, starting in 2008 and then on each subsequent year’s Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving, South Carolina won’t collect sales tax on the purchases of handguns, rifles and shotguns.

I suspect that this Nov. 28 and 29, there might be as many anti-gun folks and media representatives in South Carolina stores as there will be firearms shoppers.

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Comments
  • Jeff Day
    18 years ago

    Sales Tax Holidays? Wonder when various states are going to start emphasizing that when it’s residents go to another state with the holiday gimmick, that the taxpayers owe users tax in their homestates?
    Someone lives in New Hampshire and goes to Massachussetts during the tax holiday period and makes purchases they still owe the taxes for the purchases to the State of New Hampshire.
    Do I as a tax professional have an obligation to point that out to all the residents?

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