Back-to-school sales tax holidays continue in August, September
Back-to-school shopping is in full swing -- and so are sales tax holidays.
Florida is up first, with sales tax holidays running for one month, until Thursday, Aug. 20, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators.
Certain school supply items such as backpacks, calculators, clothing, computers, and lunchboxes will be exempt from sales tax during this period, and other specified items like learning aids will have price limits of $30 or less, according to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Other state sales tax holidays coming up in August and September include:
- Aug. 7-8: Iowa
- Aug. 7-9: Texas, Ohio, Missouri, Virginia, South Carolina, Oklahoma
- Aug. 7-16: Illinois
- Aug. 8-9: Massachusetts
- Aug. 9-15: Maryland
- Aug. 16-22: Connecticut
Individual retailers are also running back-to-school deals, perfect to pair with tax-free days.
Target is offering backpacks for as low as $5 and lunch bags starting at $3. Meanwhile, Walmart announced last month that it is lowering the cost of some back-to-school items to 2019 prices, with a box of 24 crayons priced as low as 50 cents.
Old Navy is also running discounts up to 50% on children's clothes and uniforms.
The exception is new tech for students. An increase in AI data centers and higher demand for memory chips and storage has driven up the cost of laptops and desktop computers, as well as other tech, with budget options costing $100 more than usual in some cases.
Despite this, retailers like Best Buy are still offering a few deals.
Best Buy is currently selling an HP OmniBook laptop for less than $600 instead of its previous price of nearly $1,000. Apple is also offering students the newest MacBook Neo at a $100 discount for $599, if a customer can show proof of a student's enrollment.
