Tax Free Shopping - great for Back to School (tip)

[richmond282]

Sorry, I don't "get" the whole tax free thing. Here in VA the limit on school supplies is tax free on the first $20 purchased. And on clothes it's tax free on the first $100. Sales tax is 5% here. That means if I spent my limit of $20 I saved myself a whopping dollar! If I spent my limit of $100 on clothes I could save $5 more. Yet every year people go CRAZY, the stores are packed. Is it worth waiting in line for $6? Have you ever thought about what your time is worth?

 

My biggest problem with the sales tax holiday is this, while the savings to the individual are negligible, the cumulative loss in profit to the state is staggering (in the range of 12 to 15 MILLION dollars!). I don't know about else where in the country but in VA we are having a significant budget crisis. We do not have enough money for education, layoffs and furloughs of state workers are rampant. How many teachers jobs could be saved with 15 million dollars? How many state workers? Don't get me wrong, I know government waste is everywhere, but for me saving $6 or even $100 (if it were possible) is not worth someone's job.

I bought a computer in VA tax free on that weekend. It is def NOT just $20 of school supplies. I saved a bunch of money.