Guest AuthorPoliticians love to lavish tax breaks on potential voters, especially in election years — nowhere more than in Florida. Promoting the state’s Aug. 1-3 Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday this year, Gov. Rick Scott boasted that “families will be able to save money on school supplies and other back-to-school items that will set students up for success in the upcoming school year.”
The only thing he left out was, “Remember to vote for me because I gave you 6 cents on the dollar.”
But a 2013 Tax Foundation report — “Sales Tax Holidays: Politically Expedient but Poor Tax Policy” — points out that most such giveaways are a scam. They “involve politicians picking products and industries to favor with exemptions, arbitrarily discriminating between products.”
The following are laughable (politically chosen?) examples from the long list of back-to-school “clothing” exempt from taxation, or not, in Florida this year: bibs, diaper bags, diapers and diaper inserts (adult and baby, cloth or disposable), employee uniforms and hunting vests.
In addition, receiving blankets (for back-to-school?) were tax-exempt, but not crib blankets. Non-flotation fishing vests were tax-exempt, but not fishing boots (waders). Snow ski suits were exempt (for what school class?), but not snow ski boots (why not if suits were?).
The mavens that drew up the tax-exempt list appear not to have cared about protecting school athletes from physical injury. Shoulder pads (in dresses or jackets) were exempt, but not pads in sports (football, hockey, soccer) uniforms and to protect elbows, knees or shoulders. Non-prescription safety glasses and protective athletic masks were taxable. Baseball cleats were exempt, but not helmets for baseball, football, hockey, motorcycles, and sports.
And, inexplicably, for students anticipating the need to prepare homework, cellophane tape, erasers, glue (stick and liquid), and paste were tax exempt, but not staplers and staples or correction tape, fluid or pens. Computer paper and printer paper were also taxable.
The Tax Foundation also concludes that “sales tax holidays do not promote economic growth or significantly increase consumer purchases,” as politicians may claim. It even alleges that “some [flimflam] retailers raise prices during the holiday.”
The inescapable conclusion is that Florida’s Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday is a sham. What’s sold to the public as helping average families actually hurts them. In a Florida county where the sales tax is 6 percent, a shopper spending $100 would save a mere $6. But this year, all the pennies in personal savings add up to an estimated $39.6 million loss in state sales tax revenue. Clearly, the best policy would have been to use that money to improve schools.
Given a choice, I suspect most thoughtful families gladly would forgo a paltry tax break, knowing it would be better used to enhance their kids’ education. But then again, they are the same people who elect the politicians who dangle 6 percent in front of them — and who have every reason to believe they’ll continue to take the bait.
Stephen L. Goldstein is the author of “The Dictionary of American Political Bullshit” and “Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned.” He lives in Fort Lauderdale. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
