News

Jun 09, 2023

Tax free shopping and back

SARASOTA — Back-to-school season has arrived for students, families, and teachers across the Sarasota-Manatee region, and as the start of the 2023-24 school year nears for many students this Aug. 10,

SARASOTA — Back-to-school season has arrived for students, families, and teachers across the Sarasota-Manatee region, and as the start of the 2023-24 school year nears for many students this Aug. 10, consumers are gearing up for what national retail experts are saying will be a record-breaking school shopping season.

Consumers and educators across Southwest Florida are a small part of the record-level numbers projected for back-to-school shopping this year, and shoppers headed to retailers earlier than ever to get a jumpstart on the academic year, national researchers say.

According to the National Retail Federation, a Washington, D.C.-based retail trade association that has studied back-to-class shopping trends since 2003, back-to-school spending is expected to reach an unparalleled $41.5 billion this year, up from around $37 billion in 2022 and 2021.

Families with children in elementary through high school are projected to spend an average of $890 on school supplies alone this year.

Staples has had the back-to-school supplies out for two weeks, like many big box retailers. But the University Parkway Staples store location sales manager, Marcos Pereira, said customers have taken advantage over the past few days of the annual state sales tax-free holiday as school approaches next week.

“They have been coming in towards the middle of the day, and it's picking up this week,” Pereira said. "It was slower but it's getting a little busier now because of the tax-free weekend I would say."

For the first time, the Florida Legislature established a second tax-free holiday to help parents purchase school items during two breaks in the academic year.

The two back-to-school sales tax holidays run from July 24 through Aug. 6 and Jan. 1-14.

Consumers can purchase a select list of items without added sales tax before the end of the weekend such as

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