Retail industry lobbying for tax-free shopping holidays
Folks, I have an amazing cheap tip for you! You should all go rush out and buy lots of stuff, when it's discounted 6 percent!
Sorry about the sarcasm above, but you *won't* save a lot of money if the National Retail Federation gets its way and finagles three tax holidays in 2009.
Sun business columnist and blogger Jay Hancock describes them as one of many industry groups advocating for a government bailout, this time in the form of 10-day tax-free shopping stints.
Seriously, there are unfortunately many things that make me shake my fist in the air in aggravation --- adjacent strip malls with bad pedestrian access between them, licorice in my herbal tea, inconsiderate street parkers --- and sales tax holidays are high on that list.
Sales taxes were *not* what prevented people from shelling out big bucks during the holiday season, and stuff was marked down in some cases as much as 75 to 80 percent! So why buy stuff when it's only discounted 6 percent --- the state's sales tax rate?!
It's not even that great a deal for retailers, and especially not for the federal government, Hancock says:
"Consumers would just switch shopping from taxable weeks to nontaxable ones. Stores would raise prices, pocketing what's normally collected by government. Washington would have to reimburse states for billions in lost revenue,"
he wrote in his column.
Tax holidays are kinda billed as sticking it to The Man. But it's just a different Man sticking it to you, by getting you to buy things. Don't succumb!
(photo: Gene Sweeney Jr./Baltimore Sun)
Comments
Hey Liz, this is kind of funny. We already have a sales tax free option: buying stuff over the internet. Here in Maryland, there's also the "going to Delaware" option too. A sales tax holiday might sound good on paper but it wouldn't change my buying habits.
See! Exactly ... no one is fooled that it's a good deal. --- lfk.
Posted by: bob | January 9, 2009 10:07 AM
Interesting idea, how much it will actually boost sales though, I would be pretty skeptical. If people don't have the money to spend, they don't have the money, and wiping the taxes just doesn't really change that fact.
Exactly. People don't have cash for already low prices, so why would cutting another 6 percent make a difference? --- lfk.
Posted by: Nick | January 9, 2009 2:14 PM