What you need to know about the sales tax holiday
- Clothing is defined as all men's, women's and children's apparel suitable for general use. Traditional items such as shirts, pants, skirts, sweaters, dresses and shoes are included, but so are disposable diapers, formal wear and wedding apparel. Visit www.tax.ohio.gov for a complete list.
- The exemption only applies to items selling for $75 or less. If an item of clothing sells for more than $75, the tax is due on the entire selling price. In addition, retailers cannot split items that are normally sold together in order to fall under the sales price threshold.
- School supplies are defined and include items such as crayons, notebooks, binders, book bags, calculators, composition, spiral notebooks and similar items. Visit www.tax.ohio.gov for a complete list.
- If a retailer offers a discount to reduce the price of an eligible item to $20 or less (applies to school supplies) or $75 or less (applies to clothing), the item will qualify for the exemption. This applies to all discounts even if a retailer's coupon or loyalty card is required to secure the discount.
Source: Ohio Department of Taxation
As summer vacation winds down for area school districts, shopping ramps up as parents prepare to send their kids back to school.
And this weekend is the best day to shop as it’s Ohio’s new, possibly annual, tradition: the sales tax-free weekend.
“If you have an opportunity to save money anywhere — especially with having kids — it’s well worth it, even if it’s minuscule,” said Kevin Thomas, of Fairfield Twp., as he was shopping in the office and school supply section of Target at Bridgewater Falls Lifestyle Shopping Center.
Thomas said the tax-free weekend has the potential to help the economy — giving people “more of an incentive” — but “it definitely helps families.”
“It’s a great opportunity for even more struggling families to get out and get a few more things for their children,” he said.
Not everything this weekend will be sales tax-free. The Ohio Department of taxation's website (www.tax.ohio.gov) has a complete list of what's tax-free, but clothes that are $75 or less, school supplies and instructional material that's $20 or less are eligible for the tax-free deal.
There’s a push to make the sales tax weekend permanent, but Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., said there is some resistance.
”There are some people that aren’t positive that it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “But there’s a lot of people that would think it’s a good thing, especially when budgets are tight.”
It seems the pushback that Coley says is in the Statehouse has lessened. Eleven lawmakers voted against the 2015 sales tax weekend but only two lawmakers voted against the legislation passed this past April.
Coley says there is some push to make it part of the governor’s biennial budget. Ohio Rep. Tim Derickson, R-Hanover Twp., said he’d support that idea.
”(The state budget) could be a good place for it, and that would be a two-year commitment,” said Derickson.
This weekend does reduce the incoming sales tax to the state coffers, and the sales tax was impacted by around $13.5 million after the 2015 sales tax-free weekend 2015. It's anticipated the reduction in incoming sales tax to Ohio's coffers this year will be around $15.1 million.
Coley and Derickson said the amount Ohio won't receive in sales taxes this weekend won't impact the overall collections, which is in the billions of dollars annually.
“It’s all good if people hang on to their money a little longer,” Derickson said.
Rachel Riely of Fairfield said while shopping at Meijer in Fairfield she’s probably going to be spending a few hundred dollars this weekend on school clothes and school supplies.
“It’s good,” she said on the savings weekend. This year’s savings will go toward her little girl’s first birthday party.
While sales tax-free shopping will help many this year with back-to-school, some parents with young kids won’t see the big savings until their kids are a little older, like Jennifer Economacos of Ross Twp.
“I think it’s great for families to have a little extra money to spend to use for the kids for school,” said the mother of two while shopping at Bridgewater Falls. “It will help people get out and spend more money and help the communities.”
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