Back-to-school shoppers are gearing up for this year’s three-day back-to-school tax cut holiday, which starts Friday and runs through Sunday.
Florida lawmakers voted for a smaller tax cut holiday earlier this year with more restrictions on purchases. Gov. Rick Scott suggested the 10-day sales tax holiday, but state legislators ultimately ended up slashing the holiday to three days instead.
This year’s tax cut holiday is significantly shorter than previous years’ holidays, sliced down to three days. Last year, the back-to-school tax cut holiday lasted 10 days. Florida’s tax cut holiday lasted seven to ten days from 2000-2007 and was three days long from 2010-2014. It was then extended to 10 days in 2015.
The tax cut holiday will run a little differently this year and some items won’t be tax free as they have been in other years. For example, only clothing items under $60 will be tax free, but computers and technology will be tacked on with the state’s six percent tax this weekend.
Last year, computer and technology purchases were tax exempt.
School supplies under $15 will still be included in this year’s sales tax holiday.
The National Retail Federation estimated back-to-school is the second biggest shopping season of the year, only behind Christmas. The shopping season accounted for around $68 billion in sales last year.
The Florida Retail Federation estimated the average Florida family will spend around $673 in back-to-school shopping this year, nearly seven percent higher than 2015.
Clothes under $60, shoes under $60, backpacks, belts, underwear, and cleats are among some of the items which will be tax-exempt this weekend.
Floridians will still pay taxes on several items this weekend, like computers, tablets, jewelry, watches, athletic equipment, video games and accessories, digital cameras, and cell phones.
Some counties will have a seven percent tax break, while others will have a six percent tax break. In some municipalities, the sales tax can be as high as 7.5 percent.
"We look forward to the savings that consumers will enjoy and the increased sales for retailers during the anticipated back-to-school sales tax holiday shopping weekend," Randy Miller, president of the Florida Retail Federation said when Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill into law in April.
The sales tax holiday runs through 11:59 p.m. Sunday.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen
