The countdown has begun. Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on August 2, 2013, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on August 4, 2013, Florida shoppers won’t be paying the 6 percent sales tax on a range of items such as clothes, shoes, wallets and backpacks costing $75 or less.
Now into its fourth straight year, Floridians will get a summer break with sales taxes on school supplies costing $15 or less, on items such as pens, crayons, notebooks, paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, markers, folders, poster boards and composition books.
For the first time, personal computers and related items costing $750 or less, would be exempt from sales taxes as long as they’re not used for commercial purposes. Digital readers, tablets, and items like keyboards or monitors – as long as they don’t include a TV tuner, are also tax exempt for the three-day period. The tax break, as has been in the case in previous years, wouldn’t apply in theme parks or at airports or hotel gift shops.
See 2013 Sales Tax Exempt Items Here.
President and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation, Rick McAllister said, he expects the inclusion of personal computers and related items would give Florida retailers an extra boost this year.
“Retailers in Florida are expected to boost staffing by about 20 percent during the tax holiday weekend to accommodate shoppers,” McAllister said in a statement. “In general, retailers expect an average increase of between 30 and 40 percent in store traffic over the weekend because of the sales tax holiday.”
McAllister added that he expected retail sales to at least match last year’s growth. “Back-to-school sales were up about 6 percent in Florida last year, and we are close to that pace right now. Because of the tax holiday, retail stores generally perform a little better in Florida than in states without a sales tax holiday.”
A National Retail Federation survey predicts that families with school-aged children will spend an average of $634.78 on apparel, shoes, supplies and electronics in 2013, down from $688.62 last year.
