Soaring inflation is making it more difficult for families to get their kids ready to go back to school later this month. They will get some much-needed relief this weekend during Missouri’s annual tax-free weekend on August 5-7.
Anyone can shop without paying state and local sales taxes on included items during this time, even if not shopping specifically for the purpose of going back to school. The Missouri Legislature made the holiday a part of state law. Kansas does not have a tax-free weekend, but Kansans can shop in Missouri to participate in the holiday.
Any store in the Kansas City area with eligible items will be part of Missouri’s tax-free weekend, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue. Stores in certain cities and counties throughout the state opted out and will still charge their local taxes during the holiday, and certain business districts will still keep their district taxes for the weekend, but state sales taxes will be suspended throughout all of Missouri from Friday to Sunday.
While Missouri’s neighbors Illinois and Iowa both have a tax holiday this weekend, Kansas does not. Missouri businesses expect heavy traffic from Kansas residents this year.
Some items have price caps to qualify for tax-exemption. According to the Missouri Department of Revenue:
- A piece of clothing needs to cost less than or equal to $100.
- School supplies can’t exceed $50 per purchase.
- Graphing calculators need to be less than or equal to $150.
- Computer software has to be less than or equal to $350.
- Computers and laptops need to be less than or equal to $1,500
These clothing items will be tax-free:
- Belts
- Cloth and other materials for making uniforms and other clothing
- Coats
- Diapers (cloth and disposable)
- Dresses
- Gloves
- Hats
- House coats and slippers
- Jackets
- Leggings
- Pants
- Shirts
- Shorts
- Shoelaces
- Shoes or boots
- Socks
- Tights
- Undergarments
Consumers will not have to pay sales tax on these school supplies:
- Art supplies
- Art razor knives and replacement blades
- Backpacks
- Binder clips
- Blank computer disks
- Book bags
- Card stock
- Chalk
- Crayons
- Dry-erase markers
- File folders
- Graphing calculator
- Globes
- Glue
- Handheld calculators
- Hole punches
- Index divider tabs
- Index dividers
- Inkjet refills
- Journals
- Lunch boxes
- Magnetic note pads
- Maps
- Mini-pocket packs with paper
- Musical instruments
- Note cards
- Notebooks
- Padlocks
- Paper
- Poster mounting putty
- Push pins
- Rubber bands
- Rulers
- Scissors
- Staplers
- Staples
- Stencils
- Tape
- Textbooks
- Thumbtacks
- USB flash drives
- Writing instruments
- Writing tablets
–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice
