The hubbub over ending the tax-free weekend
Published August 2, 2013
How big a crowd would turn out if a retailer ran a sales ad touting an 8 percent price reduction? In today’s bargain-shopping world it’s likely very few. Yet a scan of editorials in papers and blogs and shows a great moaning over the legislature’s ending of the sales tax holiday enacted by the legislature. To read them you would think one of the great privileges of being a citizen of this state had been taken away.
We don’t get it. Retailers didn’t have to run big discounts in order to lure shoppers…they were going to save a whopping 7 percent and better do it now. Meanwhile, the state loses about 15 million dollars in revenues.
This whole thing was a scheme to get people to shop for back-to-school clothing and supplies on a given weekend. We're betting next year retailers won't know the difference and parents will get better bargains.
Just sayin’
August 2, 2013 at 10:35 am
Norm Kelly says:
The fact that the state drops millions in sales tax revenue for this 1 weekend is only 1 very small reason that the tax free weekend needs to be eliminated.
What the tax free weekend does prove is that the Democrats in Raleigh realized that the sales tax rate was too high. They determined that too many people would feel like they were getting a bargain if they were allowed to pay no sales tax for just 1 single weekend every year. The author rightly states that an average weekend sale of less than 8% would be ignored by the majority of people. So why the big push for keeping the 1 weekend every 52?
By using this ridiculous tax free weekend, some large group of tax payers seem to be willing to pay higher sales tax all year, on every purchase, so some select group of shoppers can save on specific items during a single weekend. It also seems stupid to me that the state is willing to "lose" money during the weekend, and hopefully make it up during the rest of the year. And obviously they do make it up during the rest of the year. If the state lost money by having a high sales tax rate and providing 1 tax free weekend, even the Democrats would have been looking to eliminate that 1 weekend.
So the right thing to do with the sales tax is to reduce it for every purchase by every person in the state. Allow me to keep some of MY money during the year, perhaps broaden the sales tax base, and eliminate the (potentially) huge crowds during that 1 stupid weekend.
In addition, not only do the stores end up with unmanageable crowds during this 1 weekend, but they also have to spend all the resources to get their systems to eliminate the sales tax on every purchase. Add to this that I can't avoid the crowds at the brick-and-mortars by making a purchase online. Most, if not all, online retailers do NOT participate in tax free weekend.
The tax free weekend was a bad idea to start with and it's about time it is eliminated. Drop the sales tax rate for the entire 52 weeks, and let ME decide when I want to spend my money. Please stop trying to get me to be a lemming. Democrats like lemmings. IMHO people should not participate in lemming behavior & I do my best not to let anyone trick me into being a lemming.
Let's look at eliminating the tax free weekend as an opportunity. An opportunity to save money all year on purchases. An opportunity to prevent politicians from creating a lemming society. There are so many areas of my life that can be improved if politicians STOP trying to make lemmings. Take Obamacare as an example. A topic for another thread, but a stupid idea regardless of what thread I'm in. Another government lemming program.
IMHO.
August 2, 2013 at 3:42 pm
Christie Burris says:
A dollar saved is a dollar earned. Ask consumers why they stock up on manufacturer coupons to save $10-$20 at the grocery store on double coupon days? They simply want their hard-earned money to stretch further in this continued challenging economy.
The reason the Sales Tax Holiday has been enormously successful for the last ten years is because North Carolina consumers value greatly the additional savings of the combination of retail sales discounts and no sales tax on certain items. For example, a pair of cleats that normally sell for $50 may be 20% off and then with the absence of sales tax, a consumer has saved approximately 27% or $13 on this purchase. That is $13 dollars that can then be applied to school supplies (which will also undoubtedly be on sale) or groceries.
Part of the reasoning behind eliminating Sales Tax Holiday is that while it saves North Carolina consumers $14.7 million in sales tax, the Department of Revenue estimates that it costs the state the same amount in lost sales tax revenue.
However, a study conducted by The Washington Economics Group that analyzed the revenues of the state of Florida in 2009, when there was no Sales Tax Holiday, and in 2010, when Florida held one, determined that the Sales Tax Holiday resulted in higher tax collections for the state. This is because many consumers plowed the savings into the purchase of other necessary items subject to the tax. Taxable sales of items related to the 2010 tax holiday grew by $115 million!
The Sales Tax Holiday spurs employment and payroll taxes as well. On average, retailers add 8,300 payroll hours over the three-day event. NCRMA and state legislators initiated the Sales Tax Holiday to encourage North Carolina residents to buy from in-state retailers rather than in surrounding states or online, and that has resulted in the period becoming the second busiest shopping season of the year.
N.C. Retail Merchants Association
August 2, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Marit says:
The above comment by Norm Kelly was everything I was going to say. I completely agree!
