Published: Aug. 2, 2018
State sales tax holiday kicks off
By Nicholas Dettmann
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
WEST BEND — Nanci Czuppa remembered when her
mom set a $150 spending limit on clothes and school supplies for her and each
of her four siblings.
“I think you need more stuff, like some of
their calculators are $150 for certain math classes,” she said. “When you have
to buy those, it is expensive.”
Other items that have gotten expensive over
the years, Czuppa said, include shoes and clothing.
To help consumers save on those costs, Gov.
Scott Walker introduced a sales tax holiday to help backto- school shoppers,
exempting school supplies and other school necessities, such as clothing, from
a sales tax.
Wednesday was the first day of the holiday and
shoppers certainly took advantage, according to Zachary Hutchins, assistant
manager at West Bend’s Shopko on South Main Street.
“It’s been pretty busy,” he said, adding an
additional 15 employees were brought in to assist with the expected increased
shopper traffic. “We overstaffed to make sure all of our customers have the
best shopping experience.”
The sales tax holiday ends Sunday.
“I think it’s great for families that need
it,” said Czuppa, who bought a new backpack for her daughter, Nina, who will be
a sophomore at West Bend West High School.
Preparation for the sales tax holiday began in
March for retailers such as Shopko, which was still another two-plus months
before the end of the school year. Then, soon after school was let out for the
summer in late May and early June, Shopko, Hutchins said, was already getting
its back to school stock.
“This is when the bulk of school supply
shopping happens,” Hutchins said, adding the school supply shopping season is
similar to Black Friday as far as importance to retailers.
“There’s a lot of planning and staff that goes
into it. There’s also extra discounts we allow our customers to have.”
Set by the state’s Department of Revenue, more
than 40 clothing items are on the exemption list. Other items exempt from a
sales tax include desktop computers, laptop and notebook computers and tablets,
as long as the cost is $750 or less; items such as computer printers, personal
digital assistant (not including cellphones), computer storage media and
printer supplies are also included, as long as the cost is $250 or less.
Essentially, anything related to school will
fit in the sales tax exemption.
While it was nice to save some money with the
new school year rapidly approaching, Czuppa as well as Teri Bley admitted it
was bittersweet to already be shopping for school supplies again.
“It’s depressing,” said Bley, who picked up
several supplies for her son, Brenden, who will be an eighthgrader at Badger
Middle School.
Nina Czuppa said she is not ready to go back to
school after a summer where she went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for
vacation. She also worked and played basketball.
Nanci Czuppa said she typically does the
back-to-school shopping after the school
year starts when she has a better idea what is
needed. But, with the sales tax exemption, she took care of some of the
preliminary shopping Wednesday.
Bley said this is about the normal time of the
year she starts her back to school shopping, but she admitted having the sales
tax exemption was a nice incentive.
On Wednesday, Walker visited Fleet Farm in
Appleton to help promote the holiday’s opening day. A news release from the
governor’s office said the holiday is expected to save consumers an estimated
$14.8 million over the five days.
“When we have a surplus, those dollars should
be returned to the hardworking taxpayers,” Walker said in the release. “We want
every Wisconsinite to participate in the Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday to
have surplus dollars put back in their pockets.”
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