Virginian-Pilot: Back-to-school shoppers hit stores for tax holiday
media mentionAugust 6, 2011
by Carolyn Shapiro
Rich Tourville stopped Friday morning at JCPenney at Greenbrier Mall to pick up a birthday present and back-to-school clothes for his son, who will turn 5 on Sunday.
The Chesapeake dad didn’t realize he would save the 5 percent Virginia sales tax on those items. The state’s sixth annual sales tax “holiday” began Friday and continues through Sunday. It allows consumers to buy school items that cost $20 or less and clothing and shoes priced $100 or less without paying sales tax.
“I had no idea until I walked into the store,” said Tourville, 35. The tax break would prompt him to buy more than the backpack, sneakers and shirts already in his hands, he added. “Might as well knock it out while I’m here.”
Tourville stood in the department store surrounded by parents more savvy about the tax savings – mostly moms shopping with children for clothes. Many said they headed to the mall to take advantage of the tax holiday.
Tonia Thomas, with two growing boys in need of new shoes as frequently as every six months, watches for the sales tax holiday every year, she said. “It’s a help right now,” she said. “Any type of savings we can get, even if it’s a dollar, is worth it.”
Thomas, 44, was out of work for more than two years. She landed a new job with Sentara Healthcare in January, she said, but that didn’t stop the Virginia Beach mom from keeping a firm grip on expenses.
She bought new sneakers for 14-year-old Tyler for $80 but returned them after finding the same pair for $65 in another store. Tyler liked a shirt he saw for $23, but his mother nixed that in favor of less-expensive versions.
“They’re on sale for $5.99 today,” said Thomas, who spends about $500 each school year for Tyler and his brother, Malcolm, 10. “We’ll get four for that same price.”
Signs reading, “Wow! Tax free,” peaked out from behind posted prices on much of JCPenney’s boys and girls clothing. Over the loudspeaker, store manager David Mattox announced the tax savings and other deals for that weekend.
“We continue to see more and more customers come out and take advantage of the savings and the tax-free” event, Mattox said Friday just after the store opened.
Virginia launched its first sales tax holiday in August 2006. Retail Alliance, the trade group for the region’s merchants, and other retailers lobbied hard for the holiday in hopes that it would prompt consumers to start their back-to-school shopping early and spend more. In passing the legislation, General Assembly members said they wanted to help consumers afford the things they need to send their children to school.
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a research organization that provides information for policymakers, put out a news release last week arguing that more affluent families, not the low-income consumers who need it most, glean greater benefits from state sales tax holidays simply because they spend more.
Instead of sales tax breaks, the institute endorses income tax credits for purchases of basic necessities, which account for a larger percentage of a low-income family’s budget than for a wealthy consumer’s budget.
Many JCPenney shoppers Friday agreed that the savings is small, though it helps.
Leslie Russell came to the department store Friday morning to find a backpack and clothes for her daughter Kelsey, 10, and get the no-tax benefit on those, she said. The 38-year-old Chesapeake mom shops year-round for clothes and school items to spread out the expense and has saved more money at other times of year, she said.
“I think some things go up during tax free,” Russell said. “And I know they do a lot of good sales before now.”