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Sales tax holiday starts tomorrow for back-to-school items

By Michael J. Thompson
mthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the 2005-2006 school year, the time for back-to-school shopping is here.

Starting tomorrow, July 28, area residents can purchase school supplies, certain clothing items and computers tax-free from local merchants during a sales tax holiday that begins at 12:01 a.m. and runs through Sunday, July 31.

“Thanks to the tax-free holiday, Georgians will find school supplies and other items more affordable,” said Gov. Sonny Perdue.

“Past experience shows that retail stores will also benefit from an increase in sales, helping local economies to prosper,” he said.

In Peachtree City, Andi Papp, who operates Classy Closeouts and Computer South with her husband Al, is preparing for the big weekend.

“Most of our stuff fits into the tax-exempt guidelines,” she said. “We have women and men’s apparel, kids’ clothing, which is already discontinued up to 80 percent in some cases, and all the computer accessories will be tax-exempt.”

A number of restrictions apply to what can and can’t be purchased without the sales tax.

School supplies bought for classroom use are exempt if they cost $20 or less per item, and include pens, pencils, notebooks, paper, book bags, calculators, dictionaries and books that are listed on the approved school reading list for pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Sales tax will be due on the purchase of any single school supply item that exceeds $20.

Clothing and footwear are exempt up to $100 per item, but there is no limit on how many pairs of shoes and clothing items an individual can buy. If the price of an article of clothing or pair of shoes exceeds $100, then the item will be taxed at its full retail price.

Clothing accessories, jewelry, handbags, umbrellas, eye-wear, watches, watchbands, and similar items are not exempt from sales tax during the tax-free period.

Purchases of computers and accessories are exempt up to $1,500 per transaction, and items included in the exemption include monitors, personal computer base units, keyboards, handheld computers, monitors, printers, modems, non-recreational software, and other peripheral devices.

Items that are not exempt include regular cell phones, digital cameras, furniture and any systems, devices, software, or peripherals designed or intended primarily for recreational use.

In Fayette County, the sales tax rate is 6 percent. The sales tax exemption is intended only for individuals and their personal use.

Papp said that the tax holiday helps a number of area merchants. “For the small merchant, it’s hard to compete with the larger stores, because they have more merchandise, but we do see a sizable bump in sales.”

More information on the tax-free weekend can be found at www.gatax.org.