Florida sales tax holidays helping shoppers save money

Tax holiday helping Floridians save on storm supplies

Florida’s disaster preparedness sales tax holiday is helping shoppers save on essential items. It runs through next week.

TAMPA, Fla. - There are a lot of sales this weekend for the Labor Day holiday, but there’s also another holiday happening that will save you money. It’s the final week of Florida’s disaster preparedness sales tax holiday.

State leaders are encouraging Floridians to take advantage of the sales ahead of peak hurricane season. It’s the second, two-week disaster preparedness sales tax holiday this year and it started Aug. 24. It ends Sept. 6. The first was in June at the beginning of hurricane season.

Items like batteries, flashlights, pet food, tarps less than $100, portable generators less than $3,000 and more all qualify.

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State leaders are also branding Sunday, Sept. 1, through Sept. 7 the Tool Time Sales Tax Holiday. This means shoppers will get an extra day to save on things like work gloves costing $25 or less, hand tools, shovels and safety glasses up to $50, and other items.

There’s no limit on the number of qualifying items that shoppers can purchase. The sales tax holidays also apply to items people buy online. The sales tax holidays are expected to save shoppers about $80 million.

Ahead of a storm, FEMA suggests everyone have flashlights, a battery-powered radio, two weeks' supply of any medications you need, cash, a first aid kit and weeks’ worth of food and water. State leaders say even though this is the first time in close to two decades we haven’t had a named storm in the two weeks leading up to Labor Day, it’s not the time to let your guard down.

"We are entering the peak weeks of hurricane season," Kevin Guthrie, Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said. "As tropical cyclones may develop over the next four, six, even eight weeks, I want to remind everybody to stay vigilant and stay prepared."

Hurricane season runs until Nov. 30.

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