Senator Barrington: This Weekend’s Sales Tax Holiday to Help Families, Economy

State Senator Don Barrington, the author of the law that created Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday, is excited about this weekend’s tax-free event after seeing how successful it was in 2007.

“Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday helps families save money on purchases of clothing and shoes, and it provides a boost to Oklahoma’s economy, too,” said Barrington, R-Lawton.

Oklahoma’s sales tax holiday for 2008 runs from 12:01 a.m. this Friday, August 1 through midnight on Sunday, August 3.

“We created the back-to-school sales tax holiday to help Oklahomans save money on purchases of clothes and shoes, especially for parents of children who are about to go back to school,” stated Barrington. “Last year we also saw the tremendous economic benefit of the sales tax holiday as businesses had an increase in sales to shoppers of all ages,” he said.

In 2007 the Oklahoma Legislature overwhelmingly passed Barrington’s Senate Bill 861. The bill created a three-day sales tax holiday on the first weekend of August each year, making purchases of clothing and shoes up to $100 free of sales taxes.

Even though clothes and shoes are tax free during the holiday, last year’s event actually resulted in an overall increase in sales tax collections due to the extra business generated by shoppers over the weekend.

In addition to creating the annual sales tax holiday, Barrington’s legislation also eliminated the franchise tax for thousands of small businesses and created a childcare tax credit for stay-at-home parents.

Barrington thanked his Democrat co-author, Senator Jay Paul Gumm of Durant, for his bipartisan help to pass the sales tax holiday in 2007. Senate Bill 861 passed the Senate 33 to 15 – with the support of all 24 Republican senators and 9 of 24 Democratic senators.