Ohio retailers are using a new study to push lawmakers to enact a permanent three-day sales tax holiday in August for clothing and school supplies. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.
The research group created by the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants says a study from
the University of Cincinnati showed a pilot tax holiday before school started last
August saved consumers $3.3 million. And the study’s author, economist Julie Heath,
says sales tax collections for those three days went up $4.7 million.
“Because we drew people in from contiguous states, and because once people are in
the store and you’re in a shopping mood, they spend money on non-exempt items as
well.”
Heath says as long as Ohio remains the only state among its neighbors with a sales
tax holiday period, she says she could expect similar results every year.
