JACKSON, Miss.–Today and tomorrow you can save the state’s seven percent sales tax when you shop for back to school items. Right now there’s a cap of $100 per item, but some want to see that changed.
The annual sales tax holiday, which has been in place for four years, began at 12:01 Friday morning and ends Saturday night at 12.
You can see a list of eligible and ineligible items here, along with all the guidelines :http://www.tax.ms.gov/docs/2014SalesTaxHoliday_000.pdf
Rep. Jeff Smith (R), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told News Mississippi that some parents and some lawmakers want to see that $100 cap replaced.
“What it was intended to do, was that those parents who were paying four and five hundred dollars to get their kids materials and what not to go back to public schools were given a little bit of a break,” said Smith.
“There was a move on this year. Some people just wanted to eliminate there being a cap. Some people wanted to raise it to $500.”
That didn’t happen, so right now, you can still spend only $100 per item and get it tax free. Anything over that is subject to the state sales tax.
Smith also said it’s ended up being revenue neutral, which means that people are spending the money they save, but it may not necessarily be encouraging people to spend any more than that.
