By William Scott

Correspondent

The end of summer is looming, and with it comes the annual need for parents to begin shopping for back-to-school supplies. Luckily for Virginia parents, there will soon be a tax holiday for back-to-school items.

From Friday through Monday, most school supplies and items of clothing will be tax-free during the annual event.

The tax break means increased sales and increased shopping to retailers.

“I think it’s a real good thing for the consumers,” said Tom Biehn, store manager of Walgreens on Bridge Road. “We all pay enough taxes. It’s a good break.”

Items that will be exempt from taxation include individual articles of clothing selling for $100 or less and individual supplies priced at $20 or less. There is no limit to the amount of eligible items customers may purchase.

“After four straight years of revenue surpluses, it is evident that Virginia’s economy continues to strengthen,” Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a press release. “I hope Virginians will go out and take advantage of this holiday by spending their back-to-school dollars at Virginia retailers. Not only will this continue to benefit our state’s economy and employers, it will save Virginians some money at the same time.”

Articles of clothing do not include accessories, athletic footwear, sporting equipment or protective equipment. School supply items do not include computers, computer supplies, printers, printer supplies, digital assistants or handheld electronic schedulers.

For 60 days following the purchase of an item during the sales tax holiday items, a customer may exchange the item for no additional tax due.

Rebates cannot be used in conjunction with the sales tax holiday to lower the price of an item as their application occurs after a sale. Items purchased during the holiday using a rain check may qualify for exemption.

School supply items that are available for tax exemption include:

• Binder pockets
• Binders
• Blackboard chalk
• Book bags
• Calculators
• Cellophane tape
• Clay and glazes
• Compasses
• Composition books
• Crayons
• Dictionaries and thesauruses
• Dividers
• Erasers (including dry erase marker erasers and dry erase marker cleaning solution)
• Folders: Expandable, pocket, plastic and manila
• Glue, paste and paste sticks
• Highlighters
• Index cards
• Legal pads
• Lunch boxes
• Markers (including dry erase markers and dry erase marker kits)
• Musical instruments, musical instrument accessories, and replacement items for musical instruments
• Notebooks
• Paintbrushes
• Paints including acrylic, tempera and oil
• Paper: loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board and construction paper
• Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes
• Pencil sharpeners
• Pencils
• Pens
• Protractors
• Reference books
• Reference maps and globes
• Rulers
• Scissors
• Sheet music
• Sketch and drawing pads
• Textbooks
• Watercolors
• Workbooks
• Writing tablets