Tax Free Weekend - Are You Shopping?

[missypie]

Ours is Aug 21-23. I'm like Kickapoo - I have a plan, then get out of Dodge. We'll go to a few stores Friday night, then back again when the stores open on Saturday. By noon Saturday, when everyone else has crawled out of bed, we're done. Our sales tax is 8.25%, so if you're going to spend a few hundred dollars on school clothes, it's worth it.

Our state's rule is that it only applies to items under $100 each. I usually check the places where I buy my work clothes, because they'll often discount higher priced items (suit pieces,etc) to under $100.

 

[luvmy2sams]

We avoid those weekends. Too many crazies and not enough savings to justify it.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Where we are, tax free days usually mean not much is on sale so you are paying full price on the item just to save the sales tax of 6-7% depending on which county you're shopping in.
Immediately after tax free days end, all the clothing, tennis shoes, etc all go back to being on sale 25%-40% off. Sure I then pay sales tax, but in the long run, I have saved much more money.

 

[DarthKTrava]

Well in MA we just had our MORE TAX week end as out sales tax went up 25% forever!

And if our state budget gets approved as it's now written, ours will go up by 1%.

I won't be shopping. I have better things to do than wanting to taze people just so I can get thru a store....

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

Where we are, tax free days usually mean not much is on sale so you are paying full price on the item just to save the sales tax of 6-7% depending on which county you're shopping in.
Immediately after tax free days end, all the clothing, tennis shoes, etc all go back to being on sale 25%-40% off. Sure I then pay sales tax, but in the long run, I have saved much more money.

I agree, if I hadn't been able to find coupons worth 30% and 40% off I wouldn't have bothered. Sales tax here is 7%, so I was looking at nearly 50% on clothing that wasn't otherwise discounted.

We looked at The Children's Place but nothing was on sale and nothing was discounted (it was STILL mobbed!), so we ducked back out without buying anything. All the stuff in there will be on super sale after labor day...

 

[KathyTX]

Here's a nice list of all the states offering Sales Tax holidays this year, along with the dates:

List of State Sales Tax Holidays

 

[Kathi OD]

NO, I don't think we have them in NJ and even if we did, it would be better to drive to Delaware, where there isn't any sales tax, to avoid the crowds.

 

[FireDancer]

I buy stuff tax free all the time by shopping on the interwebs. Often the shipping is no more than the tax would be and I would rather pay the retailer and shipper than the government anyway.

I would trade a sales tax free weekend for an income and FICA tax free workweek though.

 

[KirstenB]

Heck No!!! I'll go out of my way to avoid shopping this weekend. The small% of savings isn't worth it. Of course I feel the same way about Black Friday, etc, so take it for what it's worth.

 

[MountNittany]

Any "necessity to live" like clothes and food are always tax free in PA, so we really don't have any tax-free weekends.

 

[Handbag Lady]

Well in MA we just had our MORE TAX week end as out sales tax went up 25% forever!

WHAT!?

I thought ours was bad here.

 

[MountNittany]

Well in MA we just had our MORE TAX week end as out sales tax went up 25% forever!

Up TO 25%, or up 25% from the previous percentage?

It seems like you mean up 25% from the previous percentage.

 

[hereyago]

Va has it this weekend as well. I all ready most of DD11's supplies, but am going school clothes shopping at a kid's consignment store instead of the chain stores.
We also have Hurricane supply tax free weekend, but that was I think the beginning of June.

 

[Buckalew11]

Tn's is this weekend and I doubt I'll venture out. We homeschool and didn't really need anything besides notebooks and paper which I already bought as school already started.

I bought a computer one year at CC online and it was tax free that weekend because of the ta free weekend in TN. Nice shopping!

 

[mrs_hower726]

I never heard of this until tonight.

I grew up in PA (which wasn't on the list that Kathy had) and have lived in DE for the last 6 years where we don't have sales tax.

What suprises me is the craziness at the stores from what PP's have mentioned. Unless you're buying a high-ticket item like a TV or laptop, it doesn't seem worth the extra hassle to save on average 6 pennies per dollar. On a $20 item, you're saving $1.20.