School may not start until August, but the time to shop for school supplies is this weekend during the annual “Back-to-School” tax holiday in Alabama.

With schools starting earlier, the Alabama Legislature made the decision earlier this year to push back the annual tax holiday.

Kathy Sauer, president of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce, said the tax holiday is a great benefit to both local businesses and consumers.

“It’s a monetary help with necessary purchases for items needed to begin school,” Sauer said. “It’s also a benefit to retail businesses because it will bring out everybody for a big sales day.”

Pike County gets a special boost as well, Sauer said, as Troy University students add to the potential market that will be in town needing to buy supplies for the upcoming semester.

Of course, even though the holiday is designed to give parents a tax break as they prepare for their children to go to school, that doesn’t mean others can’t take advantage of the breaks as well.

“The holiday applies to all of the products on the list and everyone can take advantage of it,” Sauer said.

Sauer said that as residents take advantage of the sales tax holiday, they should remember to be appreciative of the cities and counties offering this tax break.

“We should appreciate our cities, counties and state for making this day possible,” Sauer said. “I think we forget that. They’re giving back to the people.”

Pike County, Troy and Brundidge have all signed on to forgo sales tax in conjunction with the state, while Goshen and Banks will still be charging sales tax this weekend.

The holiday exempts most wearable clothing options under $100 excluding accessories, protective equipment and sport and recreational clothing.

Computers and software under $750 are also exempt from sales tax for the weekend excluding recreational devices and video games.

School supplies of all kinds under $50 per item and books of all kind under $30 an item will also be exempt.

For a full list of exemptions and other information go to www.revenue.alabama.gov/salestax/SalesTaxHol.cfm.