16 States Offer Tax-Free Shopping Days Amid Rising Back-to-School Costs
Back-to-school spending has climbed past $800 per student. Here's how tax-free weekends in 16 states can help families save.
If you've taken a kid school-supply shopping lately, your wallet already knows the damage. Back-to-school costs have surged past $800 per student, and with inflation still gnawing at household budgets, families are hunting for any savings they can find. Thankfully, 16 states are stepping up with tax-free shopping holidays timed specifically for the back-to-school rush.
Tax-free weekends — sometimes called sales tax holidays — are exactly what they sound like: a short window, usually a weekend, when your state temporarily waives sales tax on qualifying purchases like clothing, shoes, school supplies, and sometimes even electronics. Depending on where you live and how much you're spending, skipping that sales tax can translate into a meaningful chunk of change back in your pocket.
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The catch is that not every item qualifies, and the rules vary pretty widely from state to state. Some states cap the tax exemption at clothing items under a certain dollar threshold, while others extend it to laptops or tablets. So before you load up the cart, it's worth spending five minutes reviewing your state's specific guidelines — otherwise you might be surprised at the register.
For parents already feeling the pinch of higher prices on everything from notebooks to backpacks, timing a major shopping trip around one of these holidays is a straightforward way to stretch the back-to-school budget a little further. Even saving $30 to $50 on a $400 haul is real money, especially when you multiply it across multiple kids.
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