tax free weekend guide

15+ back-to-school essentials are tax-free this weekend in Texas

Back to school shopping, Texas tax free weekend 2024

Texas' tax-free weekend falls on August 9-11 in 2024, with big discounts for back-to-school shoppers.

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Shoppers can strategically save on many back-to-school items during Texas annual "sales tax holiday," which falls on the weekend of August 9-11 in 2024.

The statewide tax-free weekend helps ease the financial burden on families by allowing shoppers to save $8 for every $100 spent on qualifying items – such as school supplies, backpacks, and certain clothing items– for the upcoming academic year. These purchases can be made in store, online, through the mail, and via custom order as long as they take place between August 9-11. As a note, any rain checks given during the tax-free weekend won't qualify an item for a future tax exemption.

Qualifying school supplies
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts provides a specific list of school supplies that are tax-free during the weekend, but they have to be priced under $100 (most are, as long as the customer not buying in bulk).

The school supplies that qualify for the tax exemption are:

Binders
Blackboard chalk
Book bags and lunch boxes
Calculators
Cellophane tape
Compasses, protractors, and rulers
Composition books, legal pads, and notebooks
Folders – including expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila folders
Glue, paste, and glue sticks
Index cards and index card boxes
Paper – including loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, construction paper, and poster board
Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes
Scissors
Writing utensils – including pencils, pencil sharpeners, pens, highlighters, markers, dry erase markers, crayons, and erasers
Writing tablets

School supply kits also exempt from tax, and while there is no limit on the number of school supplies in kits, certain kits that contain both taxable and tax-free items will have a taxability that depends on the value of the items. According to the Texas Comptroller, if the value of the exempt items is worth more than the taxable items, the kit will be tax free. However, if the value of the taxable items comes out to more than the exempt items, then the kit will be taxed.

Clothing, footwear, and other qualifying items
When it comes to clothing, footwear, and other items, the Texas Comptroller has a detailed guide that shows both qualifying and nonqualifying items. In a nutshell, most footwear and clothing items that are sold for less than $100 are exempt from tax, with no limit on the number of qualifying items as long as they ring up for under $100.

Other items that are eligible for a tax exemption include cloth and disposable fabric face masks, including those which are sold with a filter. Student backpacks that are sold for less than $100, including backpacks with wheels and messenger bags, are also exempt. However, if a shopper is purchasing more than 10 backpacks tax-free at one time, they will have to present the seller with an exemption certificate.

Non-qualifying items
Clothing subscription boxes, cleaning services, embroidery services, alterations, and clothing and footwear rentals do not qualify for a tax exemption. Other taxable fashion items include accessories like jewelry, handbags, umbrellas, watches, wallets, and more; fabric, thread, zippers, buttons, and other items that are typically used to repair clothing; and baggage items like framed backpacks, luggage, briefcases, purses, and athletic/gym bags.

Additionally, most sports shoes and gear are not eligible for a tax exemption, such as cleats, shoulder pads, dance shoes, helmets, shin guards, and others.

Miscellaneous items that are not exempt during the sales tax holiday include industrial or medical grade face masks (such as N95s or others that are primarily used as PPE), replacement face mask filters, computers, computer bags, software, textbooks, and any unspecified school supplies that are not on the exemption list above, among others.

Online purchases during tax-free weekend
For customers who purchase their qualifying items online rather than in-store, the Texas Comptroller says a seller's delivery, shipping, handling, and transportation charges are part of an item's sale price. An example provided by the Comptroller's website is as follows: "You buy a pair of jeans for $95 with a $10 delivery charge for a total price of $105. Because the jeans’ total price is more than $100, tax is due on the entire $105 price."

If customers buy a tax-exempt item between August 9-11 and are still taxed, they would need to request a refund from the seller on the tax paid for the item. The seller can grant the refund to the buyer, or provide them with Form 00-985, Assignment to Right to Refund, which would allow the customer to file a claim for their refund through the Comptroller's website.

More information about tax-free weekend can be found on the Texas Comptroller's website.

texas taxes back to school shopping

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San Antonio leads Texas on ending horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio has pulled off something that the rest of Texas has yet to do, but it didn't come without some contentious conversations. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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