The House gave prelimary approval Tuesday to the latest edition of Florida’s back-to-school sales tax holiday, a three-day break on clothing, shoes and bags costing $75 or less, and school supplies costing no more than $15.

This year’s days would be Aug. 3 through 5, under the legislation (HB 737).

The tax-free days have been around since 1998. And they once ran for as long as a robust 10 days. But after recession belt-tightening eliminated the tax holiday in 2008 and 2009, they’ve been back at a more modest three-day clip.

Still, the proposal pulls an anticipated $25.9 million from the state treasury, but are heavily backed by the Florida Retail Federation as a driver of summer shopping. The Senate’s version of the bill, SB 982, is still making its way through committees.

Tags: back-to-school, tax-free holiday

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 6:39 pm and is filed under Economy, education, state budget, State House, Taxes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.