With hurricane season bearing down on the Rio Grande Valley on June 1, prep time is here.
The annual Texas tax-free emergency items sale is this weekend from 12:01 a.m. Saturday to midnight Monday.
“Whether it’s fires, freezing temperatures or tornadoes, severe weather conditions can strike at any time, so it is important that families, homes and businesses have the supplies they need to face these and other emergencies,” Comptroller Glenn Hegar said. “This tax holiday can help Texans save money while stocking up for emergency situations.”
The Comptroller’s Office estimates shoppers will save more than $1.5 million in state and local sales taxes during the tax holiday, which was initially approved by the Texas Legislature in 2015.
There are some strategies to employ to maximize tax-free purchases this weekend.
First should be batteries, which are pretty much must-have items in AA and AAA for consumer electronics and TV remotes these days. Sorry, but car or boat batteries are on the to-be-taxed list.
If stored properly, which means inside the house where the temperature is controlled and not in the garage or an outside shed, battery life should be about 10 years, so consider re-stocking AAs and AAAs and even D batteries for flashlights as a long-term investment.
With hurricane season right around the corner, it may be time to consider a portable generator. Any generator under $3,000 is tax-free, and fuel containers also are tax-free.
Also on the tax-free list are radios, like portable crank-powered radios, as well as two-way and weather radios.
Emergency escape ladders and hurricane shutters under $300 also qualify, but you’ll probably need some luck to find storm shutters that qualify at that price.
Non-electric coolers, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors, first-aid kits and carbon monoxide detectors are on the tax-free list, along with mobile phone chargers, of which no one can have too many.
Most of these items have a price limit of $75 max.
Non-qualifying items include cleaning supplies, toilet paper, camping stoves and camping supplies, chainsaws, plywood, extension and step ladders or tents.
More good news is that online purchases count as tax-free, too. For example, if you order a generator online and it doesn’t ship for a week, it still counts as tax-free since the time and date posted at the time of purchase will automatically qualify the item, even if it takes weeks to be delivered.
But watch out for delivery charges when buying online. For example, if you buy a rescue ladder for $299 and it costs $10 to ship, it bumps it over the $300 limit and thus gets taxed.
