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(LISTEN): Business group says sales tax holiday benefits all Missourians and small business

Columbia Mall is expected to be busy during the entire Missouri back-to-school sales tax holiday weekend (2023 photo courtesy of Columbia Mall’s website)

Missouri’s popular back-to-school sales tax holiday weekend is underway this morning, which you can take advantage of whether you’re a student or not.

NFIB Missouri director Brad Jones tells 939 the Eagle that Missourians have embraced the sales tax holiday, since it started in 2004.


“It gives working parents an opportunity to get things for their kids for school that’s a little bit easier on the pocketbook. And I think that’s really the most important thing that we’ve gotten from the sales tax holiday,” Jones says.

Jones describes the weekend as a tax break for all Missourians. Under state law, clothing under $100, personal computers under $1,500 and school supplies under $50 are eligible. Click here to see the specifics.

You can purchase certain clothing, computers and school supplies without having to pay any state or local sales tax. Jones says the sales tax holiday generates a lot of foot traffic for the weekend for small businesses.

“It’s gotten to be a pretty busy shopping weekend. And so, you know, from its infancy to where it is now, I really think that the weekend has become a really kind of a great opportunity for folks to once again go out and thank their small businesses for all the other things that they do for their community,” Jones says.

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden, a Democrat, signed the bipartisan bill creating the sales tax holiday weekend in 2004. He signed it at the Chesterfield Mall that summer, flanked by then-Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder (R-Cape Girardeau) and then-House Speaker Catherine Hanaway (R-Warson Woods).

The sales tax holiday runs through Sunday.