The 2016 Sales Tax Holiday would let shoppers make tax-free purchases of clothing priced at up to $75 or school supplies priced at up to $20, during the Aug. 5-7 weekend.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Ohio House of Representatives on Wednesday joined the Ohio Senate in approving another back-to-school Sales Tax Holiday this Aug. 5-7, giving taxpayers who missed out on last year's event something to look forward to this summer. The measure is now awaiting Gov. John Kasich's signature.
Clik here to view.
Ohio Sen. Kevin Bacon wants to make the Ohio Sales Tax Holiday permanent. Senate Bill 264, sponsored by Ohio Sen. Kevin Bacon, a Columbus-area Republican, uses nearly the exact language of last year's popular Sales Tax Holiday, letting shoppers buy clothing or shoes priced at up to $75 or school supplies and instructional materials up to $20 without paying state or local sales tax.
The tax-free event will be open to everyone shopping at Ohio stores, not just families with schoolchildren.
Last year's Ohio Sales Tax Holiday, which was intended to be a one-time-only event, ended up generating $4.7 million in sales tax revenues statewide and saved taxpayers $3.3 million on $46.75 million worth of back-to-school purchases, according to a study by the University of Cincinnati Economics Center. Consumers also snapped up items that were not tax-exempt.
The study, which is posted online at FocusonOhiosfuture.com/published-research , also showed a measurable increase in "cross-border" sales from out-of-state shoppers, because Ohio was the only state in the Midwest offering a sales tax holiday on back-to-school items.
"Those Ohio counties that border other states experienced a 15.48 percent increase in their sales tax collections, compared to an increase of 4.56 percent in non-border counties," said Julie Heath, Alpaugh Professor of Economics and director of the Economics Center.
"The 2015 sales tax holiday triggered 'Black Friday'-style increases in consumer activity, with consumers taking advantage of this tax break on important back-to-school and clothing items," said Gordon Gough, president and chief executive of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, in a written statement. "This year, we hope to build on that success and make it an even better event for consumers."
"Ohio's sales tax holiday also boosted state and local government revenues... and this new revenue resulted from a reduction in taxes, not an increase," he said.
The Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, founded in 1922, is Ohio's oldest and largest advocate for the retail industry, and represents more than 8,000 retailers statewide. Ohio's retail industry accounts for $43.3 billion of Ohio's annual Gross Domestic Product and employs 1.5 million people, or 1 in 4 Ohio jobs, making it one of the state's largest industries.