Catching a (tax) break

Ohio's first no-tax, back-to-school shopping weekend starts Friday amid mixed expectations from parents, retailers and county officials.

The three-day Sales Tax Holiday eliminates the 7.5 percent state and county taxes on eligible purchases of clothing, school instructional material and supplies. The event begins at 12:01 a.m. Friday and ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

"The state tells me it's as big as Blitz Night or Black Friday," said an excited Chris Carroll, manager of the Walmart Supercenter in Celina. "We're putting on extra help. I just don't know what's going to happen."

Other states annually offer the one-time sales tax holiday and report a boom in sales, he said.

The state set no limit on the quantity of items purchased. However, a single clothing item must be $75 or less, and a single school instructional material or school supply item must be $20 or less.

Clothing items include shirts, sweaters, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, underwear, shoes, sandals, sneakers, boots, socks, outerwear such as coats and gloves, belts and others.

School instructional materials are more restricted; qualified items are reference books and maps, globes, textbooks and workbooks.

School supplies that qualify are binders and folders, paper supplies such as notebooks and loose-leaf ruled paper, pencils, pens, crayons, glue, book bags, calculators, lunch boxes, scissors, rulers and more.

A complete list of eligible items is at www.tax.ohio.gov.

The items must be purchased in a store or online during the three-day time-frame, according to the Ohio Department of Taxation.

Mercer County Auditor Randy Grapner said he is somewhat skeptical of the idea. He hopes it's successful for retailers because it doesn't appear to be good news for the county, he said.

"I estimate the three-day weekend will mean about a $40,000 loss in county sales tax revenue," Grapner said. "Right now we're up about $80,000 over last year. If in fact we come up with a $40,000 shortfall at the end of the year, I'm going to be incensed."

The auditor admitted that if he were a retailer he'd be "jumping all over this."

"If our retailers are able to increase their sales volume on those items, then it's definitely a win for them," Grapner said.

He also noted that Ohio's first-time sales tax holiday could have an even bigger impact if it lures Hoosiers from across the border. Only time will tell, he added.

"I hope the legislators are correct in the fact they say we'll make up for the tax loss by increased sales," he said. "I guess we'll all get an education with this."

Retailers must program their cash registers to remove taxes from the qualifying items; related costs won't be reimbursed by the state, officials said. For big box stores such as Walmart, a special code will prompt registers to remove taxes for specially coded, back-to-school items, Carroll explained.

Several small area retailers told the newspaper they're not exactly sure how to proceed. Most have cash register keys to ring up non-taxable products but no system in place to identify the eligible back-to-school items.

"I didn't realize this was coming up," said Gary Bruns, owner of Mr. Shoppe in Coldwater, which sells eligible items such as shirts, pants, jackets and ties.

Bruns said his cash register has a no-tax button but he'll have to inform his employees on what items qualify. He's skeptical the no-tax offering will boost business for retailers.

"I just don't think it will generate that much. It sounds more like a headache for the county and everybody else," he said.

"Derek," an Ohio Department of Taxation representative who last week fielded questions from the public about the tax holiday, suggested shoppers get educated and be vigilant.

"They (store owners) will have to program their registers or make some changes for those three days," he said. "I'd recommend shoppers check their receipts."

Lee Berry of Mendon isn't facing a costly back-to-school shopping venture but embraced the no-tax proposition for area parents.

"I don't have any kids in school but I do think it's a cool thing to do," he said.