ASHWAUBENON, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network) – Governor Scott Walker says he’ll include a “Back to School” sales tax holiday in his next biennial budget proposal.
The Republican governor said Wednesday that the sales tax holiday would last two days beginning on the first Saturday of August 2017, and include school supplies, computers costing less than $750, and clothing items costing less than $75 each.
In addition to helping families, Walker said the sales tax holiday would provide a boost to retailers in Wisconsin.
“Retailers here are battling with shopping opportunities across the country and on the Internet,” Walker said.”I will be one more reason for people who want to shop here in the state of Wisconsin.”
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, according to the governor’s office.
The Department of Revenue indicates the sales tax holiday proposal would have an estimated $11 million fiscal impact annually.
Speaker Robin Vos said Assembly Republicans supported a sales tax holiday earlier this year.
“We actually intended to bring it to the floor, but after some discussions with other folks, decided to wait until the budget,” said Vos, adding that he had not heard of the governor’s plan prior to Walker’s announcement. “I always welcome the governor to join our call for lower taxes, and hopefully we’ll be able to get it done next year.”
