Stores in the Golden Triangle area are preparing for tax free weekend this upcoming Friday and Saturday.
Shoppers this weekend will not have to pay sales tax on clothing or footwear less than $100, the idea being to assist parents in back-to-school shopping. Eligible products include shoes, work uniforms, school uniforms and other clothing. Backpacks, wallets, jewelry and other accessories are not tax free.
Officially, sales tax on those items will be suspended from midnight Friday through 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
The Legislature passed a bill in 2009 making the last weekend in July tax free weekend for clothing. The idea was to give families doing back-to-school shopping an economic break.
“Clothes and especially school uniforms were expensive,” said District 37 Rep. Gary Chism of Columbus. “We thought to give a little break to the taxpayers that fund everything else with sales tax (when they) would be going back to school because that’s when they buy the shoes and the blue jeans and the pullover shirts. You know, it really runs up a tab on a struggling family. That’s the reason we did it, to give school-age children’s parents a break.
“(But) It’s not just school-age children,” he added. “It’s anybody. If you’re going to go buy clothes, now’s a good time to go buy them.”
The Mississippi Department of Revenue does not keep track of the money shoppers spend — or save — during the tax free weekends, according to Kathy Waterbury, a spokesperson for the department. But since the state sales tax is 7 percent, individual shoppers will save $7 for every $100 they spend.
“We’re expecting a good turnout,” said Jackie Chasteen, manager of Deep South Pout in Columbus. “We’ve always had good participation in (tax free weekend).”
Chasteen and the store are preparing for the weekend, ordering more merchandise and making sure they have enough products for the expected crowd this weekend. Some stores are adding to the holiday by holding their own sales, particularly corporate giants like Walmart and J.C. Penny, Chism said.
“They’re going to really want you to come there, so they’re going to give you some deals — like Christmas in July deals for you to come and shop with them,” he said. “Plus you’re going to get that additional 7 percent.”
J.C. Penny is taking advantage of the holiday by opening early at 9 a.m. The store is also encouraging customers to download the J.C. Penny mobile app where customers can access coupons.
On the locally owned side, Sandra Camp, owner of Uniform Center on Highway 45, has been busy this week getting the store in order in preparation for the influx of customers she expects this weekend. The week leading up to the tax free weekend is always a little slow, she said. When customers come in over the weekend, they tell her they’ve been waiting to shop until then.
“(The customers) really do look forward to that tax free weekend,” Camp said.
Uniform Center sells work shoes, scrubs, uniforms and other clothes, particularly work clothing. So Camp doesn’t get many parents of school-age children coming in. That doesn’t mean she’s not busy.
“We have a lot of the nursing students that come in,” she said. “They take advantage of the tax free weekend because it saves them quite a bit of money. When they start to school, they’re trying to crunch as much as they can.
“It’s a good weekend, a great weekend, for anyone to purchase anything that they really need in clothing and shoes, to save that money,” she added. “It’s the perfect weekend for it.”
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