Tax-Free Weekend Coming Up

From The Senate Media Office ~ State Senator Don Barrington, the author of the law that created Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday, is excited about this weekend’s tax-free event after seeing how successful it was in 2007.

“Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday helps families save money on purchases of clothing and shoes, and it provides a boost to Oklahoma’s economy, too,” said Barrington, R-Lawton.

“Last year, the sales tax holiday performed exactly as many of us predicted: it boosted retail sales by a whopping $100 million for the month of August,” said Senator Jay Paul Gumm, who fought for years to pass the measure. “The holiday will do the same this year.”

Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday for 2008 runs from 12:01 a.m. this Friday, August 1 through midnight on Sunday, August 3.

“We created the back-to-school sales tax holiday to help Oklahomans save money on purchases of clothes and shoes, especially for parents of children who are about to go back to school,” stated Barrington. “Last year we also saw the tremendous economic benefit of the sales tax holiday as businesses had an increase in sales to shoppers of all ages,” he said.

In 2007 the Oklahoma Legislature overwhelmingly passed Barrington’s Senate Bill 861. The bill created a three-day sales tax holiday on the first weekend of August each year, making purchases of clothing and shoes up to $100 free of sales taxes.

Even though clothes and shoes are tax free during the holiday, last year’s event actually resulted in an overall increase in sales tax collections due to the extra business generated by shoppers over the weekend.

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