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Back To School Tax Holiday Extended

Amy Rowell, a mother of four, has already started looking for lunch boxes at Target.

She’s preparing for the back-to-school sales tax holiday, which began Friday and runs through Aug. 16. During this time period the state will not collect its normal 6 percent sales tax.

The holiday was started in 1998, and typically lasts one weekend. However, this year it has been extended to 10-days. The last time this happened was in 2007.

Eligible items include clothing priced under $100, school supplies $15 or less per item and personal computers on the first $750 of sale prices. 

Dr. Steve Kirn, executive director of the Miller Retail Center at the University of Florida, said there is a strategy behind the holiday.

“It’s a way of generating excitement and buzz around making purchases,” said Kirn.

For retailers, the extension helps in more than one way, Kirn said.

Kirn said it allows retailers to be better prepared so they can avoid being overwhelmed by the rush of customers that occurs when there is a two-day tax break. It also gives customers more time to shop, which could encourage more purchases.

Although Rowell has been perusing isles, she plans on waiting until her children get a list of school supplies to make more purchases.

“If they could extend it until after school starts, that would be great,” she said.

Pamela Nettles, a kindergarten teacher at Branford elementary School, said normally she can spend $150-$200 when purchasing school supplies for her students, so holding off for the holiday makes the most fiscal sense.

“It’s definitely worth the wait,” she said.

Anagabriela is a reporter for WUFT News and can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.