Here are two tax ‘holidays’ that are being proposed that could help New Jersey residents. You should be aware of these and their implications for you:
New Jersey Sales Tax School Supplies Holiday
While for most of us summer is just getting started, Governor Phil Murphy, Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin are looking ahead to the fall as they have reached an agreement that will help families manage rising school costs in today’s challenging economy. As such, they have a back-to-school sales tax holiday taking place from August 27 – September 5, 2022, as a part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget. The items that will be tax exempt under their proposal include:
- School supplies, such as pens and pencils, notebooks, and binders
- School art supplies, such as paints and paintbrushes, clay, and glazes
- School instructional materials, such as reference books, reference maps, globes, textbooks, and workbooks
- Computers
- School computer supplies, such as computer storage equipment, printers, and personal digital assistants
A Gas Tax Holiday
Under a gas tax holiday, taxes that are added to gasoline and diesel fuels purchases are temporarily lifted to provide some economic relief to consumers. President Biden is proposing a gas tax holiday to eliminate the tax which is about 18 cents on gas and 24 cents on diesel through the end of September 2022. There are some projections that if the tax holiday is combined with other measures, the price per gallon could be reduced by as much as $1. However, many economists and others are not confident that these savings would actually occur. The analytics show that while some states, including Maryland, Georgia, Connecticut and New York, have lifted their local gas tax for various time periods, the benefits to the consumers (who have to share the savings with gas suppliers) are not clearly determined.
With no guarantee of success, this tax holiday is meeting with strong headwinds and skepticism in the federal legislature. More to follow!
