578/10/2018
Texas is officially into its second generation of back-to-school, tax-free shopping. Millennials bred in the state are not only the first digital natives, but they are also the first group of Texans who weren't around the last time one weekend of shopping in August wasn't tax-free. Five-year-olds heading into kindergarten in 1999 for the state's first tax-free weekend are now 24 or 25 and may have their own 5-year-old to take school shopping. The 20th year for tax-free shopping in Texas starts Friday at 12:01 a.m. and ends at midnight on Sunday. During that time, shoppers won't be charged state and local sales taxes, which amount to 8.25 percent in Dallas, on purchases of school supplies, shoes and clothing. The Texas Comptroller's Office estimates that Texans (and a few people from Louisiana, which isn't having a sales-tax weekend this year) will save $90.3 million, which comes out to about $1 billion worth of pencils and paper, backpacks and shoes, and tops and bottoms.