Eye spy a shopportunity!: Illinois Tax Holiday

Dearest fair maidens, dashing divas and glamorous gals,

How are you? Feeling fab I hope :-)

Have I got news for those of you who live in Illinois! Starting Friday, August 5th and running through Sunday, August 15th, Illinois will have its first ever Sales Tax Holiday!!! I'm sure many of you are familiar with the concept of tax holidays, as several states have been doing this since 2008. According to Wikipedia, A tax holiday is a temporary reduction or elimination of a tax. Governments usually create tax holidays as incentives for business investment. The taxes that are most commonly reduced by national and local governments are sales taxes.

For those of you living in Chicago, you know that we have the highest sales tax in the nation. According to Wikipedia, the sales tax in Chicago was  voted down to 9.75% (it was a record 10%) as of July 1, 2010. The Chicago sales tax is also one of the most complex. 9.75% is levied on all non-perishable goods purchased, while 2% is levied on qualifying food, drugs, medicines and medical appliances. The Illinois Department of Revenue collects a 3% Chicago Soft Drink Tax and a 1% Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA) "Food and Beverage Tax", on prepared food and beverage purchases in the downtown area (These "downtown" boundaries are: Surf Street on the north, Ashland Avenue on the west, Stevenson Expressway (I-55) on the south, & Lake Michigan on the east. Furthermore, O'Hare and Midway airports also fall under the 1% MPEA tax district). In addition, the Chicago Department of Revenue collects additional sales taxes on items such as fountain drinks, bottled water, liquor, and cigarettes.

Crazy right? This is exactly why the Sales Tax Holiday presents the perfect time to get some shopping in. Now before you get too happy, there are some stipulations. The "tax holiday" only applies to certain items and those particular items must have a retail value of less than $100. Although you won't be able to run out and get that new Gucci purse you've been eyeing, you can grab some cute shoes, boots and clothes (under $100 per item of course) and you can get all the back to school supplies your little hearts desire. Another good thing about this tax holiday is that many retailers will be creating incentives (think sales, Sales, SALES) to lure (yes, lure) shoppers into buying items not on the tax holiday list. Make sure that if you're deviating from the approved items list, that you catch a good sale price. Some of the eligible "tax holiday" items include:


Dresses, skirts, scarves, bathing suits, shirts, blouses, hosiery & pantyhose, etc. For a complete list of eligible and non-eligible items, please click here.


I certainly plan on taking advantage of this awesome holiday by buying all my children's back to school stuff and these lovelies...

That my dears, is the awesomeness known as Daskal by Aldo. It's on sale for $69.98 (down from $100). They have lots of other markdowns so scoot on over to your nearest Aldo store or the Aldo website.




For more information on Tax Holidays in other states, click here. Don't say I never did anything for you, lol. Until next time, ciao for now bellas!




XOXO