Final Tax Free Weekend Kicked Off At Midnight

Photo by gottsgraphicdesign.

CHAPEL HILL – Are your kids ready to start the school year with the best school supplies and a new wardrobe? Luckily, Tax Free Weekend is just around the corner.

Starting at midnight Friday and ending at 11:59 PM Sunday, Tax Free Weekend 2013 will relieve customers of taxes on clothing, school supplies, school instructional materials, sports, and recreation equipment, computers, and computer supplies.

Since 2001, North Carolina customers have enjoyed Tax Free Weekend, but 2013 brings the last relief from taxes for a while.

With the North Carolina State Legislature’s passage of the Tax Simplification and Reduction Act, starting in 2014, businesses can no longer offer the tax break to customers.

Jeff Nash, Executive Director of Community Relations on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, says Tax Free Weekend does offer financial help to families outfitting their children for the upcoming school year.

“It’s important for all of our students to arrive on the first day of school fully prepared,” said Nash. “Our teachers do want to hit the ground running and Tax Free Weekend is a great help to parents as they equip their children for a very successful school year.”

Nash says that it will be hard on families who depend on Tax Free Weekend for their purchases.

“For the families who rely on Tax Free Weekend to do their preparations for the school year and buy other supplies that they need, it’s going to hurt them,” said Nash. “It’s going to certainly cause them to have to re-think what they purchase and when they purchase it.”

Local residents like Laurie Buck are also outspoken on the end of the tax holiday.

“In view of the fact that the Republican House and Governor McCrory have lowered taxes for the rich, and the tax-free holiday was such a boon to families, I think it’s a huge mistake,” Buck says.

Chapel Hill residents like Paul Rowe say they believe the holiday helps people in the community.

“I would like to see that continued in the future. I think that’s good for a lot of different segments of the population, like students and low-income families,” Rowe says.

One Durham resident, John Winch, is very outspoken about the elimination of the tax holiday.

“Less taxes is better taxes,” Winch says. “I think it probably would stagnate the economy’s stimulus that we’re all looking to embrace.”

For more information on which items are exempt from taxes, click here.

‹

Kleinschmidt Comments On Tax Reform For Chapel Hill Residents

Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said you may start seeing more people in need of services that the state no longer provides for due to the recent tax reform passed by the North Carolina legislature last Wednesday.

Kinnaird: Leg.’s Tax Reform Hurts Mid, Low Classes, Economy

With a signature by Governor Pat McCrory, the Tax Simplification and Reduction Act will be the first change to the tax code in about 80 years.

Rep. Allen Buansi Seeks Third Term in N.C. House to Represent Chapel Hill, Carrboro

North Carolina District 56 Rep. Allen Buansi is seeking a third full term in the state house, announcing he will run for re-election in 2026. 

Leaked ‘Pandora’ Records Show How the Powerful Shield Assets

Written by MICHAEL LIEDTKE and JONATHAN MATTISE A new report sheds light on how world leaders, powerful politicians, billionaires and others have used offshore accounts to shield assets collectively worth trillions of dollars over the past quarter-century. The report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists brought promises of tax reform and demands for resignations and […]

State Budget Impasse Looms Large Over UNC System Board Meeting

The continued budget standoff in the North Carolina legislature loomed large at the UNC System’s first Board of Governors meeting of 2020. The state government’s day-long session earlier in the week, which led to no resolution between Democratic lawmakers and Republican lawmakers over the proposed budget, dominated the comments of system leadership on Friday from […]

Impasse Continues Over State Budget, Teacher Pay After Brief Session

North Carolina Republicans in the General Assembly fell short on Tuesday trying to overturn Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes on teacher pay and the budget, ensuring their spending impasse will extend into spring and perhaps longer. On a party-line vote, the Senate failed to override Cooper’s veto of a measure that would have enacted pay […]

Rep. Meyer Preparing for Re-Election Campaign, Urges Other Democratic Candidates to Run

On the day filing opened for state house and senate representatives, House District 50 representative Graig Meyer filed for re-election to his fifth term. Meyer, who represents most of Orange County except for Chapel Hill and Carrboro, has been in North Carolina’s House of Representatives since 2013. He says he’s motivated by his hope to […]

Final Tax Free Weekend Kicked Off At Midnight

Are your kids ready to start the school year with the best school supplies and a new wardrobe? Luckily, Tax Free Weekend is just around the corner.

›