Walker Touts Back-To-School Sales Tax Holiday Starting Wednesday

Gov. Scott Walker is urging families to take advantage of the state’s back-to-school sales tax holiday in effect Wednesday through Sunday.

Sales tax will not be charged on school supplies where each item is $75 or less, clothing where each item is $75 or less, computers where each item is $750 or less, and computer supplies where each item is $250 or less.

Walker pushed the sales tax holiday at visits to retail stores across the state, including Shopko in the Wausau area city of Rothschild.

“The National Retail Association estimates that a typical family with kids in school spends over $680 for the whole family on back-to-school clothing, supplies, and all of the other things that are a part of that. This would be a really big deal in terms of not having to pay sales tax on that amount,” Walker said.

The sales tax holiday comes on top of a recent $100-per-child tax rebate for eligible families.

Walker pushed back against critics who called the two programs election-year gimmicks designed to buy votes.

“If I say the sky is blue, they’ll say it’s red,” Walker said. “If this was about elections, we’d do it the week before the election. Instead, this is about back-to-school, and the real reason is because years ago they didn’t do it, because they didn’t have surpluses the way we’ve had surpluses.”

Walker credited this year’s larger-than-expected surplus to his budget policies.

“We had a larger than expected surplus because of a growing economy and good fiscal reforms, and so we’re giving this right back to the hard-working taxpayers of the state,” Walker said.

The governor said the economy would help him win reelection despite a recent NBC News/Marist poll that showed him trailing Democratic Party front-runner Tony Evers by 13 percent.

“The only poll that matters is on election day,” Walker said. “Unemployment has been below 3 percent five months in a row, and that’s the first time that’s ever happened in our state’s history, so I think in the end voters will have a clear choice.”

The sales tax holiday is estimated to cost Wisconsin $14.8 million.