Back to school for less

DALLAS — With school just around the corner, many states are beginning to promote their “Back to School Sales Tax Holidays,” which features tax-free shopping for specified items.

Fortunately, for students in military families, the same items found at local Army and Air Force Exchange Service stores are free of sales tax every day. So how do local exchanges maintain this benefit during “tax holidays?” With an additional automatic reduction of up to eight percent on all specified back to school items, of course.

“AAFES already has the no tax policy, so to give military shoppers added value we take an additional percentage off back to school items,” said AAFES Acting Chief of Staff Col. Ada Conlan. “This time of year provides an excellent opportunity to emphasize that every day is a ‘sales tax holiday’ at the exchange.”

While select states participate in “Back to School Sales Tax Holidays” from July through November, a total of 15 exchanges will offer 4.25 to 8 percent off all qualifying products.

As a value-added service, all retail facilities in participating states will match the percentage discount for those specified categories up to 8 percent throughout the duration of the “sales tax holiday.” A list of ‘sales tax holiday’ states, along with effective dates, is located at www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales_holiday.html.

In today’s economy saving money is key. AAFES strives to give military families the lowest cost possible on goods and services, Colonel Conlan said. These additional savings will help parents get everything their child needs without creating a hole in their wallet.