No Sales Tax Weekend Benefits Families

LEGISLATION TOOK SEVERAL TRIES

The upcoming weekend of Aug. 3-4 will be Arkansas’ third no- sales- tax on back- to- school clothing, equipment, supplies and instructional materials.

Looking back, one has to wonder why it took the Arkansas Legislature and Gov. Mike Beebe (and his predecessor Mike Huckabee) so long to get the no-sale-tax holiday passed in the first place.

It all came down to adapting a model from surrounding states to Arkansas’ often confusing sales tax code.

And some hard negotiating with Arkansas retailers, who were, in fact, perhaps more on board than the Legislature realized.

Act 757 of 2011 created the holiday, but only after several surrounding states — Missouri especially comes to mind — had created such an event.

Arkansans were shown the example of how much this tax-less holiday could save families of school children by our friends in the Show Me State.

The Arkansas sales tax holiday for 2013 will begin this Saturday, Aug. 3, at 12:01 a.m. and will continue through Sunday, Aug. 4, at 11:59 p.m.

State and local sales tax will not be collected during this 48-hour period on the sale of: clothing and footwear if the sales price is less than $ 100 per item; clothing accessories and equipment if the sales price is less than $ 50 per item; school supplies; school art supplies; and school instructional materials.

Also note: All retailers are required to participate and may not charge tax on items that are legally tax-exempt during the Sales Tax Holiday.

The tax- f ree model was purposely drafted by a close- knit coalition of Arkansas legislators (a bi- partisan group) so all kinds of families, especially those in low and middle incomes, could get some kind of relief from the vast expanse of money needed to clothe and equip kids to go back to school.

Back in the 2011 session of the Legislature, House Bill 1369 came about by state Reps. Jon Woods of Springdale, Les Carnine of Rogers, Debra Hobbs of Rogers, Mary Lou Slinkard of Gravette, Justin Harris of West Fork and Tim Summers of Bentonville (all Republicans) were on the bill as original sponsors.

Each of these elected officials said they had seen how the Missouri BackTo- School No Tax Days were working out north of the Arkansas border. Others, such as Democrats state Rep. Greg Leding of Fayetteville and former Rep. Uvalde Lindsey, now a state Senator, voted for the bill in all its phases. Over in the Senate in 2011, former Senators Sue Madison of Fayetteville, Bill Pritchard of Elkins, Cecile Bledsoe of Rogers and Kim Hendren of Gravette, all voted for the passage of the Act.

There was some hesitation prior to 2011 that the sales tax holiday would be a drain on the state treasury.

And there would be abuse.

Act 757 has cleared those hurdles.

Even in these uncertain economic times, such activities as Stuff the Bus campaigns and other Back To School charity drives to collect shoes, clothing and school supplies for donations to schools or under-privileged children, range from local civic clubs to churches to the schools themselves.

Back in the days of antiquity when a Blue Horse notebook or a Big Chief tablet and a pair of No. 2 pencils were all the rage, even then there were school children in Arkansas who came to class with few, if any school supplies.

In those days, as today, many teachers reach deep into their own pockets for a stash of basic supplies for children of need.

So if your kids are grown, please help Stuff- the- Bus or donate to a similar program for needed school supplies.