Sales Tax Holiday Dates Set

EAST TEXAS — Texas shoppers will get their annual break on sales taxes on certain items during the state’s sales tax holiday scheduled for Aug. 8 to 10. The law exempts most clothing, footwear, school supplies and backpacks priced less than $100 from sales tax, which could save shoppers about $8 on every $100 they spend during the weekend.

“Families gearing up for the new school year will not pay any sales tax for many back-to-school items ranging from pens to blue jeans,” said Texas Comptroller Susan Combs. “When the back-to-school list is long and the money is short, it can be difficult for Texas families. We hope this tax break will help ease that burden.”

According to the Longview News-Journal, some of the qualifying clothing items include: baby bibs, clothes and diapers; uniforms (school, work, nurse, waitress, military, postal, police fire); suits, slacks and jackets; shoes (cross-trainers, dress, flip-flops, jellies, running, sandals, slippers, sneakers and tennis); underpants and undershirts; socks, jackets, jeans, shirts and more.

Qualifying school supplies include: Binders, book bags, calculators, cellophane tape, blackboard chalk, compasses, composition books, crayons, erasers, folders (expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila), glue, highlighters, index cards and boxes, legal pads, lunch boxes, markers (including dry erase markers), notebooks, paper, pencil boxes and other school supply boxes, pencils and pencil sharpeners, pens, protractors, rulers, scissors and writing tablets

Complete lists of apparel and school supplies that may be purchased tax free can be found on the comptroller’s website at http://www.TexasTaxHoliday.org

This year, the comptroller’s office said, shoppers will save an estimated $82.7 million in state and local sales taxes during the Sales Tax Holiday.

The tax holiday weekend has been an annual event since 1999.