Posted on 07/21/2005 11:38:51 AM PDT by summer
GOVERNOR BUSH KICKS-OFF SECOND SALES TAX HOLIDAY
~~ ~Nine-day sales tax holiday on books and school supplies expected to generate $38 million in savings~ ~~
TALLAHASSEE -Governor Jeb Bush today encouraged Floridians and out-of-state shoppers alike to take advantage of the state's sales tax holiday, which takes effect on Saturday July 23 and run until midnight on July 31st. The sales tax holiday is on books, clothing, footwear, and certain school supplies and is expected to save taxpayers nearly $38 million.
"I am delighted that millions of Floridians will have the opportunity to save money during the sales tax holiday," said Governor Bush. "I'm particularly pleased that shoppers will save money on books. Reading is a critical part of lifelong learning and success, and the sales tax holiday is a great way to encourage families to save money while encouraging reading."
Under the sales-tax holiday law, no state or local sales tax will be charged on clothes, footwear, books, and certain accessories selling for $50 or less. School supplies selling for $10 or less will be tax-exempt as well during this sales tax holiday period.
The law also stipulates:
Ø Shoppers will pay no state or local option sales tax when buying books with a sales price of $50 or less. Governor Bush pioneered this provision last year to encourage families to buy and read books with their children as part of his "Just Read, Florida!" initiative.
Ø Shoppers will pay no state or local option sales taxes on purchases of clothing, footwear, and certain accessories with a sales price of $50 or less per item.
Ø Shoppers will pay no state or local option sales tax on purchases of certain school supplies with a sales price of $10 or less per item.
"Florida has one of America's strongest traditions of sales tax holidays, and we pioneered the nation's first tax holiday on hurricane preparedness supplies in June," said Dr. Jim Zingale, executive director of the Florida Department of Revenue. "The Department is working closely with retailers to help ensure that the sixth late-summer tax holiday runs smoothly this summer."
The sales tax holiday will save shoppers an estimated $31.3 million in state sales tax and an additional $6.6 million in county sales taxes. Regular sales tax holidays also were held in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2004.
The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) has mailed complete information to more than 608,000 Florida businesses, explaining how to implement the sales tax holiday.
If businesses or taxpayers have questions about the sales tax holiday, they should call the Department of Revenue toll-free Taxpayer Assistance line at 1-800-352-3671 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays. Information also is available through the Department of Revenue web site at myflorida.com/dor or by visiting a Department of Revenue Service Center. Service center telephone numbers and locations are available through the web site or by checking the Blue Pages (Government Listings) in your local telephone directory.
FYI.
I like Dubya, but sometimes I do think I would have liked Jeb better as President...although neither would be as tough on border control as I'd like.
Border control aside - I think GW has been good in many ways. And, Gov Jeb Bush may someday, who knows when, maybe 2012, become President. I hope so! :)
We have this holiday in Texas also. Don't know if W helped instigate it or not. It used to be just on two weekends. Don't know if they expanded it to the whole week or not. Would be helpful as the crowds are heavy.
I don't understand the attraction of these sales tax holidays. Simply reducing the sales tax 0.125% for the entire year gives consumers the same benefit. And it would be much better for the economy than a sales tax holiday.
We have it on one Saturday in August here in Massachusetts but they are thinking of adding Sunday because observant Jews couldn't take advantage of it.
They don't include cars so I'd rather pay the 5% tax than fight the crowds----lazy shopper here.
Well, I am surprised you have any tax holiday in MA! I can't recall reading about a tax holiday in NY or in many other states.
I like it when they describe tax reductions as "saving" money, and not "costing" money.
Would parents not get a break year round under the more economically efficient suggestion I made (lowering the sales tax rate by 0.125% year round)? I don't see how my suggestion doesn't help parents (and everyone else).
No silly. That would make sense and wouldn't be all that memorable. Geez, learn the rules.
I'm not sure if you are serious or not. Should the goal of tax policy to be "memorable" or should it be to minimize the deadweight loss?
I would just remind you both that Florida depends heavily on tourists and tax revenues generated from tourists for much of its state revenue -- since there is no state income tax in Florida for its residents. So, figuring that in, I am guessing for this particular state, it may well be better to do it the way Gov Bush does it now.
Why would that matter? My suggestion spreads out the same amount of foregone sales tax revenue over the entire year -- over all items subject to sales tax. The benefit to the consumer is the same. The benefit to the economy is significantly greater under my suggestion.
You seem totally unaware Florida has a lot of tourists at certain times of the year, and not at others. So, right now, in late July, this tax holiday is primarily benefitting the parents I mentioned. Your idea seems to me to take away unnecessarily the revenue Florida needs so that we don't have a state income tax. That matters to me, but maybe it doesn't matter at all to you.
I wish we would have these sales tax holidays here in Ohio, but it will never happen. (sigh)
July is one of the biggest months for Disney, Florida's biggest tourist attraction. Tourists are there and may benefit from the sales tax holiday. If that were a major consideration, the sales tax holiday would not be in the summer when school is out and tourists visit.
Tourists are not there in October. My plan would provide sales tax relief for Floridians when the tourists aren't there.
But the biggest advantage of my plan is that it minimizes the deadweight loss of Florida's sales tax.
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