Governor Scott Walker recently announced the inclusion of a “Back to School” sales tax holiday in his 2017-2019 biennial budget. The sales tax holiday would last two days beginning on the first Saturday of August 2017 and would include school supplies, computers costing less than $750 and clothing items costing less than $75 each.
“The sales tax holiday we plan to include in our 2017-2019 biennial budget will provide tax relief to the hard-working families of Wisconsin sending their children back to school in the fall,” Governor Walker said. “Our top priority has always been putting Wisconsin’s taxpayers first, and we’re always working to be better stewards of our taxpayers’ dollars and reduce taxes.”
Sales tax holidays temporarily exempt or lower state and local sales taxes for certain products and are utilized by state and local governments to encourage certain types of consumer activity. The most common sales tax holidays are applied to school supplies, children’s products, and energy-efficient products and appliances.
The Department of Revenue (DOR) indicates the sales tax holiday proposal would have an estimated $11 million fiscal impact annually.
The sales tax holiday included in the 2017-2019 biennial budget will be in effect for two years, then automatically sunset. This allows the governor, legislature, and the public to determine if the tax credit was effective.
