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It's become an annual habit for Paula Singleton of Huntersville: Putting off certain purchases until North Carolina's three-day sales tax holiday.
So there she was Sunday, at Carolina Place Mall in Pineville, taking advantage of the last hours of the tax-free weekend, buying back-to-school clothes – at three different stores – for teen-age daughter Sarah, a rising sophomore at North Mecklenburg High School. On Saturday, her 9-year-old daughter Helen got new school shoes.
“What's significant this year is that I am a teacher now, so I'm also buying supplies for my classroom,” said Singleton, a new teacher at A.L. Brown High School in Kannapolis. “On Friday, we bought magic markers, notebooks, rulers, glue sticks . . . I wanted to go ahead and get everything this weekend while they were tax-free.”
Across the Carolinas – South Carolina also had its tax-free weekend – shoppers were stocking up Sunday on tax-exempt clothes, computers and school supplies.
It's too early to tell just how much money was saved – and tax dollars avoided. But with the recession keeping many pocketbooks zippered shut, the National Retail Federation predicted the average family with K-12 students will spend 7.7 percent less than last year – $549, down from $594 – on school merchandise.
Still, stores were trying Sunday, many of them staying open later, to lure customers with “TAX FREE ZONE” signs and price-slashing sweeteners.
Book bags were cut from $79 to $39 at the Radio Shack in Westerly Station, a row of stores off Wilkinson Boulevard.
“We have sold quite a few items (this weekend) that we don't sell on a regular basis – the book bags, laptops, even external hard drives,” said assistant manager Mitchell Wilson. “The recession is still keeping them from dropping the big, big bucks . . . but I think people have been waiting for this weekend to get some of this other stuff.”
One draw, Wilson added: When customers bought laptops advertised at $399, they knew they'd pay “exactly that” – not that, plus the usual $29 in sales tax.
The Carolinas were among 10 states – others included neighboring Virginia and Tennessee – that had tax holidays this weekend. But with budget shortfalls during this recession, some other states, including Florida, have cancelled their tax-free traditions this year.
The National Retail Federation and some financial analysts call such cancellations short-sighted. A tax holiday can cost a state revenue in the short term, they say, but it can also help stimulate the state's economy.
“It does help the economy because we need to get people spending,” said Charles Bodkin, an associate professor of marketing at UNC Charlotte. “We need to kick-start the economy.”
On Sunday, Janice Lowrance of Mooresville was doing her part, buying “comfortable and fashionable” back-to-school T-shirts for daughter Anna, 12, at Plato's Closet, across from the UNC Charlotte campus. Husband Jeff was over at Kohl's with their other daughter, Avery, 9.
“With the state budget the way it is, I'm not sure (the tax holiday) is a good idea,” said Lowrance, herself a financial adviser. “But if they're going to do it, we'll take advantage of it.”
