The state’s retailers are pushing lawmakers to put in place permanently a three-day sales tax holiday in August for clothing and school supplies. And they have a new study that shows big numbers to support it.
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.”
And 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.