Sales-tax holiday set for next weekend

Retailers are gearing up for expected crowds of shoppers looking to save money in back-to-school purchases thanks to Missouri's sales-tax holiday.

The tax-free shopping will be held next Saturday and Sunday, the first weekend in August.

"It's our biggest shopping weekend of the year," said Tom Prendergast, manager of the Target store in Cape Girardeau. "We're definitely looking forward to it."

The holiday has parents anticipating savings on everything from clothes to laptop computers.

Shoppers all across the state won't be charged the state sales tax on back-to-school purchases. Local governments have the option to still levy city and county sales taxes. But Cape Girardeau and Jackson once again will be exempting eligible purchases from local sales taxes.

Locally, shoppers can look forward to an exemption of almost 7.5 percent sales tax.

"This is a good thing for consumers and businesses," said Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner.

Consumers benefit by saving money on necessary back-to-school purchases. Retailers benefit by drawing additional customers from neighboring states and counties that don't participate in the holiday, he said.

The sales-tax holiday has sparked numerous advertisements by retailers. More than 30 advertising inserts are in today's Southeast Missourian.

There are a few restrictions on the sales-tax exemption.

An article of clothing can't cost more than $100. School supplies can't exceed $50 per purchase. Personal computers can't exceed $3,500 in value. Computer software can't exceed $350 in price.

While Cape Girardeau city officials have agreed to the sales-tax exemption, they are less than enthusiastic about it.

City manager Doug Leslie said that when the state passed the tax holiday law, it was assumed that whatever cities lost in sales-tax revenue on clothing and school supplies would be made up in other purchases that weekend.

"We really have not seen that occur," he said. "We have not seen the positive impact everyone was hoping for."

Last year, the city lost about $50,000 in tax revenue because of the holiday, Leslie said.

The city council decided to opt out in 2006, but local retailers convinced the council to reverse its decision.

Again this year, the council reluctantly decided to give shoppers a tax break.

Cape Girardeau retailers are happy with the council's action and the public support for the tax holiday.

"We want to do all we can to help people in the community save a little money," said Sarah Grigaiti, manager at the J.C. Penney store in Cape Girardeau. "Shopping for school is expensive."

Southeast Missourian staff writers Linda Redeffer and Ilene Davis contributed to this report.

Ready for school?

Find more stories to help you prepare for the 2007-2008 school year in the Southeast Missourian's "Back to School" publication, coming in Wednesday's paper.