Welcome to

Beginning at midnight tonight back to school items will be free of state sales tax.

The sales tax holiday lasts through Sunday. Items exempt from include clothing, school supplies and some athletic apparel. The holiday was created by the legislature to help parents safe money and help spur economic growth, but there are concerns the recent stock market plummet may have people afraid to spend money. Florida Retail Federation President Rick McAllister thinks the stock market shock will give people more of a reason to shop the holiday and save.

“I’m predicting a two to four percent increase over last year. A lot of what we buy over this spending period is things we need, not just things we want,” said McAllister.

Some of the “needs” on the list include gardening gloves, bowling shoes, and fishing vests. McAllister says they may seem weird back to school items but there are gardening, bowling and fishing classes. Not on the list this year… college textbooks.