These items are tax free in Virginia this weekend

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — Virginia’s three day sales tax holiday runs through Sunday and includes back to school supplies plus emergency preparedness items.

During the sales tax holiday, you can buy qualifying school supplies, clothing, footwear, hurricane and emergency preparedness items, and Energy Star™ and WaterSense™ products without paying sales tax, according to a post from the Virginia Department of Taxation.

What items are eligible?

• School supplies, clothing, and footwear
• Qualified school supplies - $20 or less per item
• Qualified clothing and footwear - $100 or less per item
• Hurricane and emergency preparedness products
• Portable generators - $1,000 or less per item
• Gas-powered chainsaws - $350 or less per item
• Chainsaw accessories - $60 or less per item
• Other specified hurricane preparedness items - $60 or less per item
• Energy Star™ and WaterSense™ products
• Qualifying Energy Star™ or WaterSense™ products purchased for noncommercial home or personal use - $2,500 or less per item
  

CBS 6’s Brendan King spoke to Andrew Palmieri, the store manager of the Short Pump Home Depot to discuss how to take advantage of the holiday.

Watch: What emergency preparedness items are included in the sales tax holiday

Certain batteries, first-aid kits, tarps, portable generators, gas-powered chainsaws, and more are eligible.

“When a storm happens or an event, there tends to be customers flocking to these items. They're typically in short supply because retailers don't necessarily stock up. So you're fighting for a small number of things,” Palmieri said.

A survey from Nextdoor shows parents expect to spend $984 on back to school shopping this year. The bulk of their budget, they say, goes to clothing followed by electronics.

Jason Weaver is the store manager of the Walmart on Forest Avenue and talked to Brendan about what he’s expecting from shoppers this weekend.

“You can compare it almost to holiday shopping, because it is a holiday, right? It's a tax-free holiday,” Weaver said. “You really don't have a choice. If your kid needs something for school, you need it.”

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