{"id":71,"date":"2011-08-05T12:32:17","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T17:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=71"},"modified":"2012-12-20T10:22:46","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:22:46","slug":"are-sales-tax-holidays-big-gimmicks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2011\/08\/05\/are-sales-tax-holidays-big-gimmicks\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Sales Tax Holidays Big Gimmicks?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Flickr<\/p>\n

Retailers enjoy the uptick in back-to-school business, and customers can plainly see what they saved on the bottom of their receipts.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The celebration started today at 12:01 a.m., like it does on the first Friday each August.<\/p>

Shoppers have until midnight the following Sunday to buy clothes and shoes (under $100 per article) tax-free. Oklahoma retailers have been required by law to participate in the annual Tax Holiday since 2008.<\/p>

But the sales tax-free weekend is no different from every other holiday: Someone has to pay for the presents.<\/p>

Reporter Joy Hampton filed a story<\/a> in today’s Norman Transcript<\/em> that questions the economic growth potential of the state’s Tax Holiday.<\/p>

Retailers say the tax-free weekends attract big crowds and bring in new customers, one store owner told Hampton \u2014 a sentiment echoed by Norman’s budget manager, Suzanne Krohmer:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sales tax holiday attracts people that used to go to Texas,\u201d Krohmer told the Transcript<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re attracting these people that wouldn\u2019t come here otherwise, so I see it as a positive thing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

But according to a report<\/a> compiled by the Tax Foundation<\/a>, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C., tax holidays like Oklahoma’s \u201cdo not promote economic growth\u201d and \u201csimply shift the timing of purchases.\u201d<\/p>

In the end, taxpayers end up picking up the tab. To supplement the lost sales tax revenue, cities and counties apply for reimbursement from the state tax commission, which uses a formula based on August sales tax figures from the previous year.<\/p>

Former Rep. Wallace Collins (D-Norman), now the state Democratic chair, told Hampton that tax holidays are basically a gimmick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a smoke-and-mirrors kind of deal,\u201d Collins told the Transcript<\/em>. \u201cWhen it\u2019s all said and done, you probably didn\u2019t gain much of anything. You probably bought something you wouldn\u2019t have, so maybe it helps the merchants, but it probably doesn\u2019t help families.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

According to Hampton’s story, Norman’s reimbursement from the Oklahoma Tax Commission has increased every year: $89,082 in 2008; $93,624 in 2009 and $107,849 in 2010.<\/p>

OTC records from 2009 \u2014 which city-county sales tax coordinator Dave Francis says is the most recent and complete accounting \u2014 show that the state disbursed $487,142 to counties and $2,602,215 to cities and towns throughout the state.<\/p>

Top 10 Tax Holiday Reimbursement Recipients <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
County\/Municipality<\/th>\nReimbursement<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Oklahoma City<\/td>\n$673,963<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tulsa<\/td>\n$405,498<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tulsa County<\/td>\n$164,919<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Norman<\/td>\n$93,624<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Edmond<\/td>\n$89,058<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Lawton<\/td>\n$69,397<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Broken Arrow<\/td>\n$58,869<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stillwater<\/td>\n$50,565<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Enid<\/td>\n$47,389<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Midwest City<\/td>\n$46,799<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The celebration started today at 12:01 a.m., like it does on the first Friday each August.Shoppers have until midnight the following Sunday to buy clothes and shoes (under $100 per article) tax-free. Oklahoma retailers have been required by law to participate in the annual Tax Holiday since 2008.But the sales tax-free weekend is no different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[492,16],"tags":[33,31,34,32],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}