Annual Tax Holiday Approaching

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:59 am

Annual sales tax holiday planned for first weekend in August

So y'all c'mon over to Iowa and do some shopping now, ya'ear!

Seriously though, a year or two ago, some Nebraska state senators were drooling over this and wanting to implement something similar. What ever happened to that?

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:29 pm

Just a reminder, if you want to get some shoes or clothing or the like and save money on some sales specials and sales tax, and love crowds, Friday and Saturday are your days to cross the uncrossable river.....

eomaha · Post by **eomaha** » Thu Aug 04, 2005 9:26 pm

Just think what Bass Pro Shops will look like next year this time.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:12 pm

jhuston wrote:Just think what Bass Pro Shops will look like next year this time.

I've already got my eye on what parking spot I want next year.....

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:28 pm

Sales Tax Holiday is this weekend

All clothing and footwear priced under $100 will be exempt from sales tax (including school and local option sales tax) on Friday and Saturday. The exemption applies to each item priced under $100, regardless of how many items are sold to a customer.

Clothing does not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, umbrellas, handkerchiefs, sporting equipment, skis, swim fins, roller blades, skates or any special clothing or footwear designed primarily for athletic activity or protective use. Articles normally sold as a unit must continue to be sold as a unit (pairs of shoes, suits, etc.). They cannot be sold as individual items to get the sales tax exemption.

MTO · Post by **MTO** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:00 pm

Too bad there isn't an Apple store there. That isn't all the way over in DM.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:25 am

And a story from the World-Herald:

Shoppers in Iowa will get holiday

Iowa shoppers will get a price break on clothes and shoes during the annual sales tax holiday Friday and Saturday.

Greg S · Post by **Greg S** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:42 am

I'd spend in gas what I would save on Sales Tax.

Greg

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:23 pm

Maybe so for you Greg, but if you have a couple kids and buying back-to-school clothes and maybe an outfit or two for yourself and the spouse, you'd have to live out of town pretty far or drive one behemoth of an SUV to not save more than your gas money.

loyalomahan · Post by **loyalomahan** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:26 pm

What and miss out on the opportunity to support my city and state? heck no!

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Aug 02, 2006 12:36 pm

That is certainly your choice to make, loyalomahan. However, for those more inclined to spend your money outside the confines of Omaha proper, please feel free to drop in (and drop some dough) this weekend!

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:08 pm

It's going to be a wild and crazy weekend...

Sales tax holiday should make for busy retail weekend

Liz Sudeta, marketing coordinator for Mall of the Bluffs, said the mall plans to open at 8 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Some retailers were planning an even earlier opening.

Merchants will offer sidewalk sales throughout the mall, and the promotion will include the Pepsi prize wheel, a grab bag booth and the Council Bluffs JayCees will have free child identification kits. Hamilton College will host a carnival on Saturday from noon until 4 p.m.

Kathy Genrich, general manager of the Council Bluffs K-Mart in Sherwood Plaza, said the store has added signs to promote the tax-free holiday to shoppers. The store also has made lists for shoppers so they'll know what items are eligible for the tax exemption.

Marisa Bluestone with Wal-Mart corporate communications in Bentonville, Ark., said all the company's Iowa stores are stocked up and staffed up.

Miller Derr, store manager for JC Penney at Mall of the Bluffs, said he enjoys the tax-free holiday.

"Those two days are two of our very best days of the year."

The store has new registers to help customers check out more quickly, fresh merchandise has been added and the store plans a 6 a.m. opening.

Gordman's at the Manawa Power Centre is planning to stay open until 11 p.m. both days.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 11:57 am

Just a reminder, the annual sales tax holiday is rapidly approaching, for those who might be in the search for some new apparel:

Tax holiday approaches

Back-to-school shoppers might want to mark Aug. 3 and 4 on their calendars.

The two days will be Iowa's Tax Free Weekend, offering consumers a chance to save a few dollars. The annual tax-free weekend allows shoppers to buy clothing and shoes without paying a sales tax.

Iowa is one of 21 states that participate in the "Tax Free Weekend Holiday." The first statewide sales tax holiday was set up in Texas in 1999, and Iowa's General Assembly passed the Iowa Sales Tax Holiday in 2000. . .

The weekend is always the first Friday and Saturday in August. No sales tax or local option sales taxes are collected on everyday clothing or footwear priced at less than $100.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:52 am

Once again, for anybody that likes to evade taxes....

Tax holiday savings in the bag

Iowa is handing shoppers more than $1 million in savings this weekend during its annual sales tax holiday.

The event, which runs Friday and Saturday, gives consumers a chance to do their back-to-school shopping or pick up some new clothes without paying the usual sales tax to state and local governments. . . .

Iowa is one of 16 states with sales-tax holidays, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators.

“They (sales tax holidays) started at a time when budgets were relatively flush, and it seemed like a reasonable way of giving that money back to consumers,” said Kim Rueben of the Urban Institute's Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Now, Rueben said, state legislators should re-evaluate where that money would be best spent. . . .

Zilla · Post by **Zilla** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:01 pm

Dear lord....14 posts and 10 of them are by icejammer. Only 2 of those are responses to other people. Are you getting a kickback or something for promoting this?? It's really not all that exciting.

Post by **Brad** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:11 pm

Its his annual reminder... look at the date. 2005, 2006...2009

That's why he is the Council Bluffs Moderator!

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:33 pm

Zilla wrote:Dear lord....14 posts and 10 of them are by icejammer. Only 2 of those are responses to other people. Are you getting a kickback or something for promoting this?? It's really not all that exciting.

Just promoting some of the good things happening in the metro, just like most everybody else here, my friend. If it's not your cup of tea, don't feel compelled to rain on other people's parades!

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:30 pm

Missouri also has theirs this weekend, but they even allow electronics such as computers.

http://www.apple.com/retail/taxholiday/missouri.html

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Thu Aug 06, 2009 11:41 pm

icejammer wrote:
Zilla wrote:Dear lord....14 posts and 10 of them are by icejammer. Only 2 of those are responses to other people. Are you getting a kickback or something for promoting this?? It's really not all that exciting.
Just promoting some of the good things happening in the metro, just like most everybody else here, my friend. If it's not your cup of tea, don't feel compelled to rain on other people's parades!

I agree.

However, i never understood why people do get so worked up over it. If you spend $100, you save 7 bucks. If you spend $500 (and get all your kids outfitted) you save $35. But you still spent 500. $35 is $35, but on that much money it doesn't make much difference. It's good on items $100< and doesn't include electronics.

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 12:04 am

It's been a coup for Council Bluffs businesses.

And zilla... icejammer is our Council Bluffs 'man on the scene'.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:46 am

thenewguy wrote:However, i never understood why people do get so worked up over it. If you spend $100, you save 7 bucks. If you spend $500 (and get all your kids outfitted) you save $35. But you still spent 500. $35 is $35, but on that much money it doesn't make much difference. It's good on items $100< and doesn't include electronics.

Stats show the average family spends $550 per kid for back-to-school. Let's be generous and say only half of that is on clothing, so $275 per kid, 1.5 kids per family, $412.5 per family on clothes, $28.88 savings on sales tax. BUT, throw in that nearly all retailers are throwing in sales on clothing items of 10-50% during the tax holiday, and now you have another $41.25-206.25 in savings. So, if you have to buy the stuff anyway, why not take advantage of all the savings you can get?

Zilla · Post by **Zilla** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:50 pm

My bad...didn't see that they were multiple year posts. Carry on.....

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:41 pm

I'd wager that the average consumer would come out ahead by taking taking advantage of seasonal sales prices on either side of the river... than to put on a blindfold and shop in Iowa looking for a meager 7 1/2% sales tax discount.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:16 pm

IF all you're getting is the sales tax break, then no, it's not worth it, but the retailers figured out pretty quick that by running sales on the tax-exempt items and others, they pulled in more business than not running special sales on top of the tax holiday. If you're the type that just wants to spend one day shopping, it works out pretty well. If you don't mind people making 20 trips to the mall in their gas-guzzlin' SUV to make the same purchases to potentially save a little more dough, then by all means, let's save a little money. (j/k, of course)

Stargazer · Post by **Stargazer** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:23 pm

Although I have to say, there's a kayak I want really badly, and the only retailer who stocks it is Bass Pro. If only this covered all retail purchases... it might just be the last justification I needed to buying it.

Big E · Post by **Big E** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:11 pm

Stargazer wrote:there's a kayak I want really badly

First time ever in the history of written communication those words have been arranged in that order.

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 9:47 pm

icejammer wrote:
thenewguy wrote:However, i never understood why people do get so worked up over it. If you spend $100, you save 7 bucks. If you spend $500 (and get all your kids outfitted) you save $35. But you still spent 500. $35 is $35, but on that much money it doesn't make much difference. It's good on items $100< and doesn't include electronics.
Stats show the average family spends $550 per kid for back-to-school. Let's be generous and say only half of that is on clothing, so $275 per kid, 1.5 kids per family, $412.5 per family on clothes, $28.88 savings on sales tax. BUT, throw in that nearly all retailers are throwing in sales on clothing items of 10-50% during the tax holiday, and now you have another $41.25-206.25 in savings. So, if you have to buy the stuff anyway, why not take advantage of all the savings you can get?

Touche. Didn't think of any sales.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Mon Aug 10, 2009 9:53 am

Stargazer wrote:Although I have to say, there's a kayak I want really badly, and the only retailer who stocks it is Bass Pro. If only this covered all retail purchases... it might just be the last justification I needed to buying it.

Which kayak? I almost pulled the trigger on a lower end model last month.