Utterly Meaningless

Of course legally the Marylanders didn’t save a dime, as they’re supposed to remit the tax that they didn’t pay to the state of MD. Riiiight!

Here it includes school clothes, shoes, etc. as well as books and supplies. It pays if you can buy all your clothes and books for the year that day or if you happen to be buying computer equipment.

Not at all worth it for crayons, pencils, and paper though.

It was tax-free weekend here, too. The idiots pack the malls and stores like crazy all to save a whopping 6%. We can go to Target or Walmart a day or two after the g-schools start and get the same stuff for 50% off. Not that we need much as far as school supplies go. And we don’t need to outfit the kids with new wardrobes either. Most of our school-related spending right now is for curricula and books, and most of that we buy online so we don’t pay sales tax on it anyway.

It’s getting ridiculous here in Georgia during the “tax-free” weekend. Last week I kept hearing a radio ad for a store that sells nothing but men’s suits, saying to take advantage of the tax-free weekend and get a new suit! And yesterday at Home Depot they had a sign that said you didn’t have to pay tax on certain energy-saving water heaters. What the hell do suits and water heaters have to do with school?

If we’re in the market for a computer we (try to) wait for the tax-free weekend, but other than that I think it’s a gimmick.

Here in TN, because we have no income tax, our nonfood sales tax is 9.25%, though I could be off a quarter percent or so. So here, I would think the tax free weekend may be worthwhile.

The non food sales tax is 8.25% here. It’s not enough for me to try joining the stampede of hippos at the mall for. :p We also can shop online at local chain stores and get the same discount, but then there’s the shipping costs, so it’s an even balance.

Here in NJ everything is taxed (if you know of anything that isn’t taxed yet, shhhhh!), and there are no tax-free days. If you shop in a designated downtown area (depressed towns and urban areas) you pay 1/2 the sales tax, though.

But we don’t get pink cards in the mail!