Tax Holiday Survey: Vast Majority Think Sales Tax Breaks Make Good Economic Sense

Many states have decided to implement sales tax holidays for parts of August to give consumers needing back-to-school items a break. Will these tax breaks actually influence anyone’s shopping habits? How many Americans are planning on taking advantage of these tax holidays and how many already have? And do consumers think these types of breaks can help the economy?

School Shopping

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 26% of US consumers said they definitely plan to buy items like school supplies, clothing, and electronics at some point during the month of August. 23% of consumers said they will probably buy these types of items during August. 33% said they will probably not do any shopping for those items in August. And 18% said they definitely won’t buy any of those items this month.

Tax Holiday

23% of respondents said that a break on sales tax in their state would definitely entice them to shop more during the month. 32% said a sales tax break would probably get them to shop more. Another 32% said a tax break probably wouldn’t impact their shopping habits, and 13% said it definitely wouldn’t impact their shopping habits. Of those who said they would probably shop more if they got a break on sales taxes, most were already planning on shopping during August anyway.Overall, 44% of respondents said they have taken advantage of a tax holiday at some point. And 57% said they have never done any shopping during a tax holiday.

Economic Impact

53% of survey takers said they think a break on sales tax would definitely be a good idea for the economy in their state. 30% said they think a tax break would probably have a positive impact. 7% said they don’t think a break on sales taxes would really help, and only 2% of respondents said they think this type of break would definitely be a bad thing for the economy. 10% had no opinion. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Missouri Sales Tax Receipt Coin from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on August 4, 2012 via AYTM’s online survey panel.