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.

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