For three days only this year, people who shop in Virginia won’t have to pay sales tax on qualifying items.
The sales tax holiday is back from August 2-4 after budget negotiations in the General Assembly moved it to October in 2023.
People can shop online or in-person for school supplies, clothing, and footwear as well as hurricane and emergency preparedness products.
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I caught up with Jennifer Brennon who traveled from North Carolina to Chesapeake to shop with her daughter at Target.
They were shopping for binders, notebook paper, pens, pencils, headphones, and more.
In fact, those are just some of the school supplies that consumers won’t have to pay taxes on this weekend.
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What are the eligible items? According to the Virginia Department of Taxation:
- School supplies, clothing, and footwear
- Qualified school supplies - $20 or less per item
- Qualified clothing and footwear - $100 or less per item
- Hurricane and emergency preparedness products
- Portable generators - $1,000 or less per item
- Gas-powered chainsaws - $350 or less per item
- Chainsaw accessories - $60 or less per item
- Other specified hurricane preparedness items - $60 or less per item
- Energy Star™ and WaterSense™ products
- Qualifying Energy Star™ or WaterSense™ products purchased for noncommercial home or personal use - $2,500 or less per item
Samantha Gordon with Consumer Reports says, "just be aware that as you go into shopping you might not be able to get everything tax free, but absolutely take advantage if you can this weekend."
Consumer experts estimate it will save shoppers just over 5%. Shoppers I talked to are hoping the little bit of savings will help their budget.
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Gordon tracks prices for all of the products that are tested by Consumer Reports.
"Year-over-year, we are not seeing that many differences on how big the discounts are," said Gordon. "But what I have seen is a lot of items that were available last year are still available this year, and they are selling for less than they were last year, which might mean you're getting an older model pair of headphones or an older laptop, but they're still going to perform just as well."
While some folks get ready for school, others are eyeing hurricane season.
“My mantra is, ‘are you ready? If you're not ready, come and tell us’ […] We have tape, we have tarps, we have batteries for flashlights [and] we have different kinds of lanterns.”
David Price, known as “Doc,” is the manager at Taylor's Do It Center on Colley Avenue in Norfolk.
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He says they'll also sell tarps, ratchet straps and portable generators for $1,000 or less.
“We have the 900-cc generator that's small and it's inverted so you can plug up refrigerators and all that stuff,” Doc says.
Tax free weekend goes from August 2-4.
A detailed lists of qualifying items and more information for retailers can be found in the Sales Tax Holiday Guidelines.
To see a list of suggested items for a disaster kit, click here.
