Sales tax holiday for school supplies begins Saturday

As kids gear up to go back to school, Saturday is a good day to get some shopping in, as that’s when the back-to-school sales tax holiday begins.

Many families didn’t need to buy backpacks or lunchboxes last year because a lot of them were learning remotely and only needed to walk to the kitchen for a lunch break. But that is changing this year, and we are already seeing the proof: Target and Walmart are already short on a number of supplies and the tax-free holiday hasn’t even started yet.

The items that we’re seeing in the highest demand are backpacks, lunchboxes, headphones and pencils. The people WINK News spoke with at Target say they are definitely expecting more shipments of those last three items, but they don’t know if they’re going to get more backpacks in stock; if you need those, now is the time to get them. As far as school uniforms and clothing go, there seems to be no shortage of that anywhere.

The tax-free deals include:

• School supplies like markers that are less than $15
• Any type of clothing or shoes, backpacks and wallets that are less than $60
• Any computer or computer accessory that is less than $1,000

There is a catch when it comes to electronics, however: The computers are tax-free under $1,000, but the computer bags are not tax-free. The printers are tax-free, but not the paper for them. But accessories such as chargers, keyboards and flash drives are covered by the holiday, and you had better get them fast if you need them, as those were other items starting to sell out at stores Thursday.

Something you may find really helpful are the school supply lists for every single school in Lee County and elsewhere, with everything you need to get to be ready for the school year.

If you want to purchase your back-to-school supplies online you can still take advantage of the holiday, but you have to be careful; if a retailer is selling its items online, it is supposed to sell it tax-free, but if you were selling your used laptop online, you technically would not have to sell it tax-free. As WINK News consumer reporter Andryanna Sheppard says Always double-check who the seller is.