Take a break from taxes

As they prepare to return to the classroom, teachers should take advantage of the taxfree, backtoschool weekend coming up this Friday through Sunday, Aug. 2022. That’s when the Legislature has waived the sales tax on school supplies and most clothing and footwear items priced at less than $100.

Most shopping malls and discount stores will be extracrowded, but the tax savings in most Texas cities will be worth more than 8 percent.

School kids and parents aren’t the only ones shopping for school supplies these days. Many teachers are too, and most won’t be reimbursed by their school districts for those expenses.

According to TSTA’s recent biennial survey on teacher moonlighting and morale, the average teacher spends $564 a year out of his or her own pocket on supplies and other schoolrelated expenses for which there is no reimbursement. Statewide, that’s an annual $186 million taxpayer subsidy.

That’s pretty generous for a group of educators whose average pay – 34th in the country – still lags several thousand dollars behind the national average.

Contrary to a widespread misconception, most of the returning teachers didn’t spend the summer hanging around the swimming pool either unless they were lifeguards. According to the same TSTA survey, more than half of them held summer jobs and a large number will moonlight during the school year to help make ends meet.

They deserve whatever tax breaks they can get.

For more information about the taxfree weekend, including what specific items are included, click on this link:

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/taxpubs/tx98_490/tx98_490.html