State’s sales tax holiday hikes sales

Area stores saw mixed results from Illinois’ first sales tax holiday that ended Sunday.

Dave Jensen, store manager of the Princeton Walmart Supercenter, said the sales tax holiday positively impacted the entire store’s sales during the 10-day period.

“It worked out pretty well,” he said. “It drew in business and increased sales in our other departments.”

Dollar General stores in Spring Valley and Princeton had different stories about the state’s first ever sales tax holiday where shoppers didn’t have to pay the state’s 5 percent portion of sales tax for certain supplies.

Roxie Price of the Spring Valley Dollar General said the store’s sales went up about $60 a day from the previous year during the holiday that ran from Aug 6 to Aug. 15. She said all of this increase may not be attributed to the holiday, but most of it was.

An employee of the Princeton Dollar General who didn’t want to give her name said that store’s sales didn’t go up much during the 10-day sales tax holiday.

The Illinois Department of Revenue had estimated the state stood to lose as much as $60 million in sales tax revenue from the 10-day tax reprieve that ended Sunday.

Revenue Department spokesman Sue Hofer said the outcome of the sales tax holiday won’t be known until after retailers file their August sales paperwork with the state. But even then, Hofer believes it may be difficult to break out what happened during the sales tax break versus the rest of the month.

Retail experts said the average family spending about $600 on back-to-school shopping would save about $30 during the sales tax holiday.

The tax holiday covered clothes, shoes, coats and school supplies with a retail price of less than $100. Computers, cell phones and most electronic equipment didn’t qualify for the holiday.

Local governments still got their share of sales tax revenue during the tax holiday.

The sales tax holiday, an idea first started in Texas in 1999, has now spread to a host of states across the country. Neighboring states Iowa and Missouri offer sales tax holidays, but only for one weekend a year, according to the Illinois Retail Merchants Association based in Springfield.