Tax-free weekend: A survival guide

Florida’& rsquo; s tax-free weekend on back-to-school products starts today and ends Sunday. This will be the very first year St. Johns County residents will reap a little money on the offer. We’& rsquo; ll be conserving 6.5, instead of 6 percent, due to the fact that of the half-penny sales tax hike citizens OKAY’& rsquo;d for school construction last November. Although nobody idea of it back when citizens were being drawn in opposite instructions on the referendum, another plus for voting “& ldquo; yea & rdquo; might have been that citizens would save more cash during the three-day event. Discussing the other 362 days might have been troublesome. Florida already took pleasure in a special tax-free weekend back in June when typhoon materials were on the table. That’& rsquo; s if they had actually any cash left after the last one. Louisiana, we think, has us beat. In addition to the back-to-school and cyclone weekends, the Pelican State will provide a special 2nd Modification tax-free ride the first week in September. Weapons, ammo and hunting supplies are all tax free. Bow searching supplies are OK, too. Off-road automobiles are on the list, though the state does not enable the discount rate for tractors, cranes, backhoes or golf carts. They have to fix a limit somewhere. Boats are tax-free, too —– however have to fit the meaning of searching, which Louisiana spells out as “& ldquo; airboats and pirogues.” & rdquo; You can purchase deer food tax free, but not cat food. If any item of clothing is camouflage, it’& rsquo; s in. So are field glasses, rifle scopes, shooting glasses, skinning (rather than filleting) knives, tree stands and decoys. Regretfully, Louisiana particularly exempts bird dogs from the sales tax perk. Fishing supplies didn’& rsquo; t make the list either. But, other than that, it’& rsquo; s a marvelously progressive state, from where we sit. Georgia’& rsquo; s legislature this year eliminated its tax- totally free, back-to-school weekend for 2017. The Georgia Budget & Policy Institute approximates its sales tax vacations cost regional and state governments as much as $70 million in incomes. The institute composed: “& ldquo; Rerouting the funds Georgia loses through its sales tax vacations to … … other public financial investments could supply real benefit to Georgia households and a real increase to the state’& rsquo; s economy. & rdquo; Jacksonville and other border towns might see a bump in sales from Peach State customers hopping the border for our piece of the discount pie. If you’& rsquo; ve truly got exactly what old Florida Crackers called “& ldquo; brief arms and deep pockets,” & rdquo; we expect Jacksonville buyers who pay 7 percent sales tax could shop our county for the half-percent savings. So, for our own homeowners who’& rsquo; ll be stuck at home for the sales tax vacation there are a couple things to remember: n There are retailers who actually jack rates up for the holiday, so they put on’& rsquo; t actually lose any profits. More typical, however, is for retailers to end their back-to-school sales simply prior to the tax-free weekend. n You still need to go shopping wisely. A 6.5 percent discount rate implies nothing if a store down the street is discounting the exact same items at 10 to 20 percent. n And, with numerous e-commerce retailers, such as Amazon, using extremely deep discounts, complimentary shipping and no sales tax (depending upon where it establishes housekeeping), the ease of saving cash online might indicate you might skip the local shopping entirely and take the kids to the beach. … Or, you ought to shoot over to Louisiana and snag that airboat you and the missus have actually had your eyes on for so long.