Did you venture out to purchase school supplies for your aspiring young scholar during our state’s tax-free weekend? Or, perhaps your child’s school days have long passed and you simply wanted to acquire a new computer without incurring a sales tax. Either way, North Carolina recently held its annual sales tax holiday, during which the state throws caution to the wind for a weekend and exempts clothing, computers, sports equipment and other selective “back to school” items from our state and local sales tax. The tax ranges from 6.75 percent to 7.25 percent, depending on the county in which you reside.
The media always seem to become excited when North Carolina’s weekend without a sales tax comes around. A plethora of news reports encourage parents and consumers in general to take advantage of the wondrous event. And, don’t get me wrong; it is a good event. I may have even bumped into you while hunting down supplies for my final semester of college.
The recent tax-free weekend got me thinking, though. What underlying economic reality emerged during the wonderful weekend? People became rather excited about the notion of purchasing goods in the marketplace while not being coerced by the government to pay a pesky sales tax. That should be a cause for some excitement! It seems that, in today’s era of big government, every activity (even some inactivity, sadly) is liable to be taxed. While most of us realize that the government’s taxing power is a legitimate function, that legitimate function has been used and abused, taking away too much of our hard-earned money with increased frequency and intensity. With that in mind, there should be no confusion as to why people become excited about a tax-free weekend.
But, perhaps we can take away an even larger, more significant truth from our state’s tax holiday. What does the event imply about the relationship between consumer participation in the economy and taxes? It seems to suggest that people are incentivized to enter the marketplace and spend their money when the tax burden (even a seemingly small sales tax burden) is removed. Imagine that! People will typically spend more money while engaging in economic activity when they know they will not be taxed. Politicians everywhere should take note.
People really don’t like taxes. And when some of those taxes are nullified, even for a weekend, consumers respond with greater economic participation. If significant tax relief could be made permanent, think of the potential economic growth and prosperity that could be created in perpetuity!
During a time when our great nation and state remain mired in economic malaise, perhaps our elected officials should consider the reaction of consumers during a tax-free weekend to find ways to resurrect our economy. Burdensome taxes have the tendency to put a damper on economic activity, whereas reducing or eliminating taxes can do just the opposite.
Do you remember the little bit of joy you experienced over the tax holiday when, after checking out at the store, you glanced at your receipt and saw there was no sales tax? It was a good feeling, wasn’t it? I think the joy of reduced taxation should be experienced more than one weekend a year. Let the implications of the tax holiday teach us a valuable lesson. And when you’re out shopping during the other 51 weekends of the year and you go to glance at your receipt after departing a department store and you find that pesky sales tax, think about the impact taxes have on economic growth and prosperity.
Scott Blakeman, an intern with the Civitas Institute wrote this article.
Amen to this. I hope citizens wake up and then write letters to editors of your local paper. Blog about it. If this can happen in a Friday to Sunday timespan, what would happen if we had reduction across the board?
Here’s my blog post with a LTE that I wrote to the Sanford Herald: http://freshbrewedconservatism.blogspot.com/2012/08/lessons-from-sales-tax-free-weekend.html
Sheila
Tax-free weekends are nothing more than a way to make the citizenry feel good and think they are getting over a little. Problem is that it can’t last until our federal, state, and local governments stop spending so much money, by reducing social programs and government’s size.
These Tax Free periods are really a sad joke and in the long run can forec a tax INCREASE to make up for the lost funds.
For one thing it is too broad of a reduction, perhaps if it just covered clothes it might help spme people. On a $300.00 bill you save a big 24 bucks. For the really needy that could be an extra pair of pants or skirt, but are they spending $300 to start with? So the “saving” is even less. And then they and the rest of the consumers must make up that tax loss.
Mr. Cooney puts a finger on the core difference of perspective on taxes between supporters of bigger government versus smaller government. To Democrats, relief from taxation is “lost funds”, not to the consumer but to the government, which the consumer (taxpayer) is obligated somehow to “make up for”. To Republicans, relief from taxation is not “lost funds” but “funds retained”, in fact already “earned funds” belonging to consumers and taxpayers, who after all are one and the same persons. “Taxes” are never “lost”, taxation just changes who controls a % of your income: you or the government. Most Americans think tax rates need to be fair, but not excessive, especially sales tax – which hurts the poor the most. If the poor did not pay that tax, they would need fewer government handouts in the first place. That is no “joke”.