CBS Chicago
Aug 3, 2010
By Dorothy Tucker
Dust off your shopping shoes, shine up the credit card, and get ready for the newest shopping holiday.
It’s the state’s tax free holiday that’s sure to rival Black Friday. It’s 10 days of no state sales tax. It’s a first for Illinois. CBS 2′s Dorothy Tucker reports on what qualified and what doesn’t for the 5 percent tax break.
For example, in Kankakee County, instead of 6.5 percent, you’ll pay 1.5 percent. In Lake County taxes drop from 7 percent to 2 percent. In Chicago, outside of downtown, instead of 9.75 percent, you’ll pay 4.75 percent.
“That’s a big savings,” said Kim Shackelford.
Since Shackelford typically spends $400 on back to school clothing and supplies, it’s an extra $20 in her pocket.
“I can wait until Friday and save that much more ’cause if I save I can buy an extra water bottle or socks,” said Shackelford.
The state’s offering the tax break to boost sales for retailers and help struggling consumers. It applies to items like skirts, dresses, pants, shoes and underwear.
“It’s any clothing item or footwear that’s under $100. So if you’ve got a new job and you’re in the market for clothing you can take advantage of the sales days as well,” said Tanya Triche, Senior Counsel Illinois Retail Merchants Association.
While most clothing is covered cosmetics, purses, and jewelry are not. Also on the no tax break list: computers, computer supplies and other electronics. But calculators are OK. In fact, almost anything you’ll need for the classroom gets a tax break.
“And there’s no dollar limit on the school supplies unlike the clothing where you’re limited to $100, it’s unlimited so you can get all the pens, paper, glue, all those things,” said Triche.
The list of what qualifies and what doesn’t is already in store computers, so you don’t have to worry about getting credit, but store mangers still expect consumers to have questions.
“So we have been kind of coaching our teams. We’ve given them copies of the actual state directions so they’ll be pretty well versed on it,” said Lee Crom, Target Store Manager.
Remember the tax break lasts for 10 days until August 15th. Some stores plan to open early and stay open late.
Kmart, on Addison, is open 24 hours, so the tax holiday starts Friday just after midnight.
