(Host) Another "sales-tax holiday" will be held this weekend and state officials say they hope it will provide a boost to the economy.
As VPR’s Ross Sneyd reports, storekeepers and consumers are both bracing for a busy day of shopping.
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(Sneyd) Wayne Neubauer sells fly-fishing rods and computers at his Manchester store, the Reel Angler and Green Peak Computers.
He knows he’s going to have a good day on Saturday, when he won’t have to charge customers the 6 percent sales tax.
(Neubauer) "People have already been in my store looking at things, planning what they’re going to purchase on Saturday. My wife is out today planning on buying appliances on Saturday. Not only is it good for us. It’s good for other people."
(Sneyd) Vermont had its first sales tax holiday last summer to help generate extra business.
The experience then was that stores selling big-ticket items, such as appliances or computers, benefited the most.
Neubauer figures that’ll be the case this year, too.
(Neubauer) "I’m going to see $600-$700 fly rods go out my store door. A couple of computers will go out the door on Saturday. And I’m expecting a lot more."
(Sneyd) Like Neubauer, other retailers have seen a lot more browsers this week. It appears that shoppers are scoping out what’s on the shelves and lining up the items they’ll want to buy on Saturday.
Tasha Wallis of the Vermont Retailers Association says that’s going on all over the state.
She’s hopeful that the timing of this year’s holiday might drive shoppers to a wider array of goods.
(Wallis) "I think it’s very good that Vermont’s sales tax holiday was put in the middle of the back-to-school shopping season. So maybe this year it’s not just the big-ticket items, but it’s backpacks, printer ink, notebooks, anything somebody might be buying for their child to return to school."
(Sneyd) Wallis says an analysis of last year’s tax holiday showed a spike in sales. That tells her that people went out and bought things they otherwise didn’t plan to buy.
Advocates of the tax holiday think that’s going to happen again. In fact, one of them found out from his wife, Dorothy, that this was a good time for a purchase at home.
(Douglas) "Well, my director of infrastructure at home has advised me that we’re going to get a new stove."
(Sneyd) Governor Jim Douglas says the new stove will be more efficient than the old one. He wouldn’t say how old the old one is. But he says it’ll definitely be replaced on Saturday so he can qualify for the 6 percent tax savings.
For VPR News, I’m Ross Sneyd.