Keith and stuff
08-05-2017, 10:38 AM
A long article about how the left and right agree that taking away the little joys in life from the people is a good thing :( Sales taxes go over 10% in half a dozen states, with the highest sale tax rate at 12% in rural LA. Posted below are several highlights.
In some states, sales tax holidays lose luster
Elaine S. Povich, Pew/Stateline Published 12:25 p.m. ET Aug. 4, 2017
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/08/04/tax-free-shopping-holidays-states-worth-cost/539886001/
Consumers in 16 states can take advantage of sales tax holidays this year — going on frenzied shopping sprees to buy items such as backpacks, computers and school clothes tax-free. But states confronting budget woes and a long list of spending priorities are questioning whether the hyped-up shopping events are worth the cost.
Left-leaning critics say the holidays are regressive and cost states money that could be spent on other priorities. Right-leaning groups agree that they are regressive, and argue that they don’t attract new business for retailers. Instead, they say, the holidays just concentrate buying into a single weekend.
For more than a decade after New York started the modern trend in 1997, the number of states with annual sales tax holidays grew steadily. But the count peaked at 19 in 2010, and this year’s tally is one fewer than last year. The liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that states lost $300 million due to sales tax holidays in 2016.
Georgia lawmakers voted this year to scrap the state’s July sales tax holiday, which applied to clothes, school supplies and computers. Massachusetts, which gave up its holiday in 2016, rejected efforts to reinstate it this year in the face of a budget deficit. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker this week filed legislation to designate a tax-free weekend in August, but House and Senate leaders are opposed to the idea, so Baker’s proposal is unlikely to advance.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to expand the sales tax holiday from three days to 10 was rebuffed by the Legislature. In Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plan for a two-day holiday was scrubbed by lawmakers in favor of eliminating the personal property tax for businesses. In Oklahoma, the sales tax holiday for school clothes and shoes was on the chopping block to help close a budget deficit, but survived by one vote.
Georgia Debate
In Georgia, lawmakers decided during this year’s legislative session not to renew the state’s sales tax holiday, but did find other products and industries to favor.
Rep. Jay Powell, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he did not encourage renewing the holiday “because I don’t think that it accomplishes any useful purpose.” People are going to buy what they buy, regardless of the holiday, he said, pointing to a Georgia State University study that said people who were able to do so just “bunched their purchases into one weekend, that would have normally been spread over the summer.”
Retailers in the state were disappointed by the move. “This is not allowing consumers an opportunity to save some money and is hurting retailers by not having this very popular weekend,” said James Miller, communications director of the Georgia Retail Association.
Miller suggested that Georgia residents who live near states with a sales tax holiday, including Florida, Alabama and South Carolina, would simply drive over the border and shop there.
The cross-border issue also came up in Massachusetts, since neighboring New Hampshire doesn’t have any sales taxes.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, took note. He tweeted:
“Daily reminder to Massachusetts shoppers that every day is a Sales Tax Holiday in New Hampshire! #VisitNH.”
In some states, sales tax holidays lose luster
Elaine S. Povich, Pew/Stateline Published 12:25 p.m. ET Aug. 4, 2017
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/08/04/tax-free-shopping-holidays-states-worth-cost/539886001/
Consumers in 16 states can take advantage of sales tax holidays this year — going on frenzied shopping sprees to buy items such as backpacks, computers and school clothes tax-free. But states confronting budget woes and a long list of spending priorities are questioning whether the hyped-up shopping events are worth the cost.
Left-leaning critics say the holidays are regressive and cost states money that could be spent on other priorities. Right-leaning groups agree that they are regressive, and argue that they don’t attract new business for retailers. Instead, they say, the holidays just concentrate buying into a single weekend.
For more than a decade after New York started the modern trend in 1997, the number of states with annual sales tax holidays grew steadily. But the count peaked at 19 in 2010, and this year’s tally is one fewer than last year. The liberal Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimates that states lost $300 million due to sales tax holidays in 2016.
Georgia lawmakers voted this year to scrap the state’s July sales tax holiday, which applied to clothes, school supplies and computers. Massachusetts, which gave up its holiday in 2016, rejected efforts to reinstate it this year in the face of a budget deficit. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker this week filed legislation to designate a tax-free weekend in August, but House and Senate leaders are opposed to the idea, so Baker’s proposal is unlikely to advance.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to expand the sales tax holiday from three days to 10 was rebuffed by the Legislature. In Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plan for a two-day holiday was scrubbed by lawmakers in favor of eliminating the personal property tax for businesses. In Oklahoma, the sales tax holiday for school clothes and shoes was on the chopping block to help close a budget deficit, but survived by one vote.
Georgia Debate
In Georgia, lawmakers decided during this year’s legislative session not to renew the state’s sales tax holiday, but did find other products and industries to favor.
Rep. Jay Powell, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he did not encourage renewing the holiday “because I don’t think that it accomplishes any useful purpose.” People are going to buy what they buy, regardless of the holiday, he said, pointing to a Georgia State University study that said people who were able to do so just “bunched their purchases into one weekend, that would have normally been spread over the summer.”
Retailers in the state were disappointed by the move. “This is not allowing consumers an opportunity to save some money and is hurting retailers by not having this very popular weekend,” said James Miller, communications director of the Georgia Retail Association.
Miller suggested that Georgia residents who live near states with a sales tax holiday, including Florida, Alabama and South Carolina, would simply drive over the border and shop there.
The cross-border issue also came up in Massachusetts, since neighboring New Hampshire doesn’t have any sales taxes.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, took note. He tweeted:
“Daily reminder to Massachusetts shoppers that every day is a Sales Tax Holiday in New Hampshire! #VisitNH.”