Oklahomans will enjoy another back-to-school sales tax holiday Friday through Sunday. (Photo by Getty Images) (This photo cannot be republished without a Getty subscription.)
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahomans will hit the stores and internet Friday through Sunday for a back-to-school sales tax holiday.
State, city and county sales taxes won’t be collected on clothing and footwear if the sales price of the item is less than $100.
The holiday does not apply to back-to-school supplies, such as backpacks and books or to accessories, special clothing and footwear designed for athletic activity or protective use.
Senate Bill 861 in 2007 created the back-to- school sales tax holiday.
Then Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, D-Durant, was one of the more vocal supporters of the measure and a Senate author.
“I was the one jumping up and down and made sure they couldn’t not do it,” Gumm said. “You know, there were a lot of lukewarm feelings about it.”
Cities and towns were reluctant about creating it until a deal was struck to have the state reimburse cities and counties for lost revenue, he said.
“We watched our stores empty out on the Texas sales tax holiday because our constituents who were on the border were crossing the state to take advantage of that,” he said. “And it wasn’t just border counties.”
People from Cleveland and Oklahoma counties could be found shopping in north Texas, he said.
While the state ultimately agreed to reimburse cities and counties for lost revenue, Gumm said studies showed that shoppers would buy beyond what was on the list, increasing revenue for cities and counties.
Lawmakers modeled it off of the Texas holiday, Gumm said.
Oklahoma was one of 18 states that held a sales tax holiday in 2023, according to the Tax Foundation.
According to figures from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, the holiday has cost the state an estimated $125 million since inception. The figure includes lost state sales tax revenue and what the state has reimbursed cities and counties.
Gumm said he would have liked to have seen the measure include school supplies, but supporters had to make compromises to get it passed.
It was not immediately clear if there is an appetite to expand the back-to-school sales tax holiday to other items, such as school supplies.
Mike Fina, Oklahoma Municipal League executive director, said his organization historically does not like to see sales tax removed from any item because cities are so dependent on it as a source of revenue to provide services.
House Speaker Designate Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, said someone files a bill every year to expand it. This year, lawmakers were focussed on eliminating the state’s sales tax on groceries, he said.
Hilbert said he is not opposed to having a conversation about it.
Gumm, who has been out of office since 2010, says he still gets messages from people thanking him for the law.
“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of for my time in because it really does help everyday families struggling to make ends meet,” he said.
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